Report of the International Whaling Commission (1994)

Abstract

Strandings and sightings data of toothed whales entangled in fishing gear are documented for the Southern California Bight from 1975-90. Entanglements involve three fisheries: a nearshore set gillnet fishery; an offshore drift gillnet fishery; and a purse seine fishery for squid. Common dolphins were the most frequently entangled species south of Point Conception and harbor porpoises north of this point. For common dolphins, the majority of records were from the long-beaked species. Pilot whales were the most frequently documented takes prior to the 1982-83 El Nino event. Records of entanglement for other species include white-sided dolphins, Risso’s dolphins and bottlenose dolphins with single records each for a killer whale, Cuvier’s beaked whale and Hubb’s beaked whale.