Experts make tragic discovery after taking closer look at struggling whale: 'A pretty horrific thing to watch'

An aerial survey team discovered a North Atlantic right whale dead in U.S. waters after it became entangled in fishing gear.

What happened?

Division, a 4-year-old male North Atlantic right whale, died after becoming entangled in fishing line, which wrapped around his mouth and head, cutting into his upper jaw and blowhole. 

According to CBC Lite, this marks the first death from entanglement in 2026. 

However, Division had not recently become entangled; teams spotted him caught in fishing gear a month before his death. They worked to free him, but could only cut away some of the plastic. 

Tonya Wimmer, executive director for the Marine Animal Response Society, saw Division while he was still alive. 

She explained, per CBC Lite, "It was a pretty horrific thing to watch because he went from looking very much like a right whale to a very thin, very emaciated, very sick-looking animal right before he passed."

Why is this death concerning?

Oceans are full of plastic fishing gear, including lines, nets, and ropes, that often snare and entangle a variety of marine animals. While some manage to escape and a few survive despite their entanglement — as Division did three previous times — most often, these instances lead to severe injury or death.

North Atlantic right whales are a critically endangered species, with fewer than 400 left in the world, per CBC. Considering vessel strikes and entanglements are the leading causes of death for these whales, too many deaths like Division's could lead the species to extinction. Additionally, entanglements have been shown to cause some of these whales to skip calving, resulting in fewer births.

Even when marine animals don't suffer from entanglements, plastic in the ocean can still harm them, as plastic fishing gear sheds microplastics into the water. When whales and other marine life consume microplastics, the particles and fragments can cause illness. 

These microplastics are also harmful to humans who eat seafood, as research has linked microplastics in humans to several health issues, including dementia and cardiovascular problems.

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What's being done about entanglements?

NOAA Fisheries has taken steps to reduce entanglements to help maintain, and hopefully increase, the population of North Atlantic right whales. 

In addition to working with manufacturers and fishermen to test ropeless fishing gear, NOAA Fisheries has mandated gear marking to understand how and where these whales get entangled, made changes to vertical buoy lines and sinking ground lines, and has improved its stranding response, among other things. 

As for untangling already entangled whales, the NOAA-supported Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network aids whales on the U.S. East Coast and has successfully disentangled around 30 of this species in past years.

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