Summary
The authors modeled 28 years of data to estimate the impact of entanglement on female North Atlantic right whale health, survival and reproduction. Results show that entangled whales were drastically more likely to experience negative health impacts, including declines in body condition and lower survival rates. Furthermore, whales in poor body condition were not reproductive- between 1994 and 2021, entanglements reduced the expected number of calves by 12.9% and the number of living females by 18.5%. The authors state that reducing entanglement risk is crucial in order for the population to recover.