Whale entanglements disentangled through the lens of cumulative habitat compression
Fig 5
Conceptual summary on the utility of the cumulative Habitat Compression Index as an rate tracker of thermal habitat availability pertaining to ecosystem shifts (involving humpback whales and their prey in slope and shelf coastal habitats) to inform whale entanglement mitigation science strategies in the central CCLME (e.g., tactical and strategic ecosystem-based fishery management).
In this example, the cHCI in Region 3 (inset; central California coast) shows the outcomes of years with increased and truncated thermal habitat on whale entanglements. Over 2000-2024, this study found a higher number of whale entanglement reports during years of truncated thermal habitat and highlights the role of the recent anchovy population boom (Fig 1), and potential for increased detection of entanglements when whales are closer to shore. The utilization of short-term seasonal forecasts (at January and July; 6 months out) of habitat compression could improve tactical decisional support for dynamic ocean management (e.g., dynamic versus static fisheries closures).