Summary
This study evaluated drag characteristics of entangled North Atlantic right whales, contextualized gear drag measurements for individual whales and quantified the benefits of partial disentanglement. A load cell was used to measure drag forces on 15 sets of fishing gear removed from entangled right whales, a towed satellite telemetry buoy and 200 m of polypropylene line as it was shored to 25 m, as they were towed behind a vessel at -0.77, 1.3 and 2.1 m/s and 0, 3 and 6 m depth. Information suggests that on average entanglements increase drag and propulsive power by 1.47 fold. Reducing trailing line length by 75% can reduce parasitic gear drag by 85%.