In a single week two sperm whales still alive have been entangled in drifting nets in the waters of the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy.
The first has been found during the night of the 9th of June, about 5 miles off the Calabrian coasts. It was 12 meters long; it had a big portion of the net around the lower jaw and a second one around the tail. The two portions were connected by a string of net along one side of the body. As the specimen was particularly restless, two days of work were necessary to cut the net.
The 14th of June a second sperm whale, a male 10 meters long, has been found entangled, about 13 miles offshore, in the same area. The net was around the body and the tail. Even if in this case the specimen was quiet, many hours occurred to release it. The portion of the net around the tail weighed more than 100 kilos.
G. Paolillo (representing the Italian stranding network Centro Studi Cetacei) directed the operations to release the sperm whales, with the help of the scuba divers of Italian Finance Police.
In this area many striped dolphins, with amputations or clear marks of entanglement in a fishing net, strand every year in these months. In the same period many fishing boats using surface pelagic drifting nets to catch swordfish are working in the area. The legal length of this kind of net in Italy is <2.5 km; we have no certainty of its respect, that in any case is not a safety measure for marine mammals. As the majority of the data that we collect are about cetacean found stranded on the Italian coasts, a lot of bycatches remain probably unknown. We think that the few data we have are enough to produce a big concern on cetacean conservation. In this connection many environmental associations are asking for the total ban of this fishing gear.