A study captured, by chance, the heartbreaking moment a young harbour porpoise became entangled in a gillnet off the English coast – and sent out distress signals.
Researchers from the University of St Andrews in Scotland recorded the incident in detail. In 2019, the team had equipped a gillnet off the coast of Cornwall, in southwestern England, with an acoustic monitoring system. Two harbour porpoises initially approached the net and spent several minutes searching for food. Then, one of them – a young porpoise that had not yet reached adulthood – became entangled in the net. It emitted more than 50 distress signals, possibly attempting to alert other porpoises nearby. Sadly, after several minutes, the young porpoise died.
The recording provided an unprecedented insight into a bycatch event, capturing the animal’s behaviour and distress in a level of detail never documented before. In the UK, an estimated 1,000 porpoises die every year after becoming entangled in gillnets.
Consumers have the power to drive real change. One of the most impactful actions we can take is to leave fish off our plates and choose alternatives that do not contribute to this suffering.
Change is possible. And it starts with caring.
