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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal>Conservation Biology<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='outline: 0px'><b><span style='color:#007E8B'><a
href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1523-1739/accepted"><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#007E8A;
border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Accepted Article (Accepted, unedited
articles published online and citable. The final edited and typeset version of
record will appear in future.)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12590<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:24.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:7.5pt;vertical-align:
baseline'><span class=maintitle><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'><o:p> </o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:24.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:7.5pt;vertical-align:
baseline'><span class=maintitle><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'><o:p> </o:p></span></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=maintitle><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0in'>Implications of fishing rope strength on the severity of large
whale entanglements</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Amy R.
Knowlton<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>1</span></sup>,<span
class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:black'> </span></span>Jooke
Robbins<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>2</span></sup>,<span
class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:black'> </span></span>Scott
Landry<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>2</span></sup>,<span
class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:black'> </span></span>Henry
A. McKenna<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>3</span></sup>,<span
class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:black'> </span></span>Scott
D. Kraus<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>1</span></sup><span
class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:black'> </span></span>and Timothy
Werner<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>1,4</span></sup><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='outline: 0px;word-wrap: break-word' id=doi><span
class=affiliationnumber><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>1</span></span><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>New England Aquarium, Boston, MA, USA <span
class=affiliationnumber><span style='color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0in'>2</span></span>Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA, USA <span
class=affiliationnumber><span style='color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0in'>3</span></span>Private consultant, Weston, MA, USA <span
class=affiliationnumber><span style='color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0in'>4</span></span>Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston,
MA, USA. <span class=email-label><span style='color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0in'>Email:</span></span><span class=apple-converted-space><span
style='color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'> </span></span><span
class=email><span style='color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Amy
R. Knowlton (<a href="mailto:aknowlton@neaq.org">aknowlton@neaq.org</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:15.6pt;vertical-align:
baseline'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:16.2pt;vertical-align:
baseline'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Abstract<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;
margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px'><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Entanglement
in fixed fishing gear is a conservation concern for whales worldwide, including
in the United States where deaths of North Atlantic right and humpback whales
have exceeded management limits for decades. We examined fishing gear removed
from live and dead entangled whales along the US East Coast and the Canadian
Maritimes from 1994–2010 to investigate rope polymer type, breaking
strength, and diameter in relation to whale species, age, and injury severity.
For the 132 retrieved ropes from 70 cases, average tested breaking strength was
2616 lbs (SD 1863; range 180–8910 lbs), which is 26% lower than strength
at manufacture (mean 3530 SD 2224; range 650-12000 lbs). Median rope diameter
was 3/8 inch. Right and humpback whales were found in ropes with significantly
stronger breaking strengths at manufacture than minke whales (4338 3850 and
2353 mean lbs, respectively). Adult right whales were found in stronger ropes
(mean 7664 lbs) than juvenile right whales (mean 3446 lbs) and all humpback
whale age classes (mean 3906 lbs). For right whales, injuries have become more
severe over the past three decades, possibly due to changes in rope
manufacturing in the mid 1990's that resulted in stronger ropes at the same
diameter. Our results suggest that broad adoption of ropes with breaking
strengths of 1700 lbs or less could reduce the number of life-threatening
entanglements for large whales by at least 72%, and still be strong enough to
withstand the routine forces involved in many fishing operations. A reduction
of this magnitude would achieve nearly all of the mitigation legally required
for US stocks of North Atlantic right and humpback whales. Reduced breaking
strength ropes should be developed and tested to determine the feasibility of
its use in a variety of fisheries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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