Proceedings of the Untangled symposium: - WSPA

4Summary of problem and solutionworkshop outcomesAnimal rescue/disentanglementThe problems prioritised by the rescue groups werepredominantly centred on the lack of capacity that theexisting rescue community has, as a whole, to respondto animals affected by marine litter. Rescue networks donot exist in all areas where they are needed and wherethey do exist, people likely to come into contact withentangled animals do not always know about them orhow to contact them. Legislation was also raised as anissue – either a lack of it or too much of it in some caseswhich hampers rescue attempts.Solutions were focused on building the capacity ofexisting networks, both in terms of increasing the numberof people actively working to respond to entanglementcases in parts of the world where it is needed, and also interms of introducing internationally agreed best practice/protocols to improve the efficiency of rescue efforts andprotect both animal and human welfare.During the plenary discussion delegates queried how thecapacity-building of rescue networks would be funded,emphasising that it probably is not high priority for mostgovernments. Examples that can be used as persuasivecase studies were given, such as the successfulgovernment-funded whale disentanglement networksand training in the US. It was acknowledged that bestpractice for whale disentanglement already exists andwork at the International Whaling Commission (IWC)and within the US government is building upon this andtraining is starting to become available in other countries.However, for other species it was apparent that there isa lack of agreed best practice and that a standing expertgroup would be beneficial in this regard. It is unfortunatethat there is no intergovernmental body that focuses onthe welfare of marine animals aside from whales (coveredby the IWC) as the involvement of a relevant IGO wouldbe useful in establishing and disseminating best practicefor disentanglement and rescue.12