Protecting Whales and Sea Turtles & Ensuring Thriving Fisheries: Reducing the Risk of Entanglement in California Fishing Gear

California’s coastal waters include some of the most productive and diverse ecosystems in the world. To conserve this biodiversity and the coastal economies and communities that rely on a healthy ocean, Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is committed to protecting endangered and threatened whale and sea turtle species as well as supporting thriving commercial and recreational state-managed fisheries. The Strategy for Protecting Whales and Sea Turtles & Ensuring Thriving Fisheries: Reducing the Risk of Entanglement in California Fishing Gear (Strategy), approved by the OPC at its November 2019 meeting, outlines investment priorities to reduce the risk of entanglement in California fishing gear and is one component of a more comprehensive effort to protect whales and sea turtles in California. This is consistent with Target 3.3.5 of OPC’s Strategic Plan to Protect California’s Coast and Ocean (2020-2025).

The 2018-2019 Governor’s Budget included a $7.5 million General Fund appropriation to OPC to address whale and sea turtle entanglement in California fishing gear. To guide Council investments in projects that reduce whale and sea turtle entanglement while supporting thriving fisheries, the Strategy provides a comprehensive approach to minimize entanglement in fishing gear, protecting California’s marine ecosystems and recreational and commercial fisheries. The Strategy includes four components:

1. Collaborative Partnerships

Advance collaborative, multi-stakeholder processes to identify and develop solutions to reduce the risk of entanglement in fishing gear.

2. Best Available Science

Develop improved data streams and collaborative research to provide comprehensive information on key factors of entanglement risk across state-managed fisheries in order to inform adaptive risk mitigation.

3. Gear Innovation

Support innovative research and development of fishing gear modifications that would reduce entanglement risk while allowing for safe, efficient, enforceable and cost-effective harvesting operations with minimal adverse impacts to marine life.

4. Entanglement Response & Outreach

Conduct outreach and improved entanglement monitoring, documentation, analysis and response efforts.

 Currently Funded Projects

In 2024, OPC approved funding to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation to support four projects that will reduce the risk of whale and sea turtle entanglement in fishing gear. These projects will be completed in 2026.

Ropeless Fishing Management Portal: This project will build an enforcement interoperability portal for ropeless fishing gear which will allow fishermen and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to track ropeless gear on the seafloor, thereby improving fishermen’s ability to make decisions about where to fish while also supporting enforcement efforts.
Purchase of Manufactured Line: This project will allow for the purchase manufactured line to support line marking requirements for the Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery. Establishing state-specific line markings will further improve the ability of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service to identify the fishery source of marine life entanglements and is the next step in implementing the Dungeness Crab Working Group’s recommendation to establish standardized gear marking for all California fixed gear fisheries.
Large Whale Entanglement Response: This project will partner with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Large Whale Entanglement Response Network to further strengthen large whale entanglement response capabilities by hosting annual entanglement response trainings and establishing a reimbursement program for entanglement responders.
Expansion of a Ropeless Fishing Gear Library: These funds will allow for the purchase of additional ropeless gear to expand the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Ropeless Gear Library for Dungeness crab fishermen. This gear library was originally established by OPC’s 2020 investment in gear innovations testing. This gear will be used for outreach, demonstration, and training/testing purposes, and will provide an opportunity for fishermen to test ropeless fishing gear while significantly reducing the financial burden of testing gear.

In 2020, OPC approved the funding of three projects through a competitive process administered by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. Results of these projects are expected in 2025.

Conduct entanglement science research and to inform risk assessments for large whale entanglements off California: The Cascadia Research Collective will conduct small boat surveys and photo identification of large whales in California.
Near-real time ecosystem data for risk assessment and mitigation of whale entanglements in California’s Dungeness crab fishery: The Farallon Institute will develop models to determine whale distribution and predict entanglement risk based on environmental indicators and prey distributions.
Monitoring leatherback turtle distribution and migration to reduce entanglement risk in the California Current: Upwell Turtle will test and refining methods to use Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAVs) (drones) to locate and follow leatherback turtles for capture and tagging efforts off the California Coast and other identified high-use foraging areas.

OPC also supports collaborative partnerships and management of the Dungeness Crab Fishery through the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group and the Dungeness Crab Task Force.

Completed Projects

Staff Contact

Katie Cieri
Sustainable Fisheries and
Aquaculture Program Manager
Katie.Cieri@resources.ca.gov

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