This project aims to improve the understanding of how "fully formed" reduced breaking strength ropes or weak contrivances placed at different points along a vertical line in crustacean pot gear…

This project aims to improve the understanding of how "fully formed" reduced breaking strength ropes or weak contrivances placed at different points along a vertical line in crustacean pot gear affects the outcome of whale entanglements, especially where and how quickly vertical line breaks occur when a whale collides with them. Investigators will further develop and then use a computer model developed in orcaflex to simulate whale entanglements in fixed-fishing gear using different weak (1700LBF) ropes and rope contrivances. This will include adding an open mouth component to the whale model, running entanglement scenarios with different whale behaviors and gear configurations, examining the effect of different rope elasticities, conducting at-sea testing to ground-truth our model, informing the performance of nmfs-approved weak gear, and providing the agency with details about change in entanglement risk with different weak rope configurations and properties for INT