Hi, my name is Krista. I am a biologist studying dolphins in Western Australia and I am raising funds for actions that will help end dolphins' suffering and prevent them from dying from entanglement in recreational fishing gear.

For the past five years I have dedicated my life for bettering outcomes for dolphins and other wildlife that are entangled in recreational fishing gear. Entangled dolphins, many of who we frequently observe and whose lives we have been following for years or even decades, are directly affected through entanglement or ingestion of recreational fishing gear such as line that has not been disposed of appropriately. Entanglements may lead to drowning, amputation of body parts, systemic infection, restricted movement and an inability to forage, feed or engage in other normal behavior such as socializing. This fundraiser is born out of desperation to end entangled dolphins’ plight.

Over the last decade I have seen too many dolphins unnecessarily succumb to their entanglement injuries in Western Australia mainly due to what, I believe, is inadequate resources and funding allocated to prevention strategies and dolphin incident response. Many of the affected dolphins are young calves. Earlier this year, a female dolphin, River, was found dead. At the time of her death, she had been entangled in fishing line around her pectoral fin for five years. Yes, you read that correctly, five years leading to a slow, painful death that could have been prevented. I first got to know River as a juvenile when I commenced my research in Mandurah, Western Australia in 2016. She was part of group of dolphins mainly occupying the eastern shores of the Peel-Harvey Estuary. She had her first calf, Merak, in 2019, which was great as reproductive females are so important for maintaining this small estuarine dolphin community. About a year later, in 2020, an entanglement was seen around her pectoral fin. It was cutting through tissue on both sides of the fin. I feared for infection that could spread into her bones and lead to septicemia (blood poisoning) that could be lethal, as observed in other similar cases. I, and many others, pleaded the government department for intervention to disentangle River. But as she continued to look otherwise relatively healthy, no intervention was attempted. She then lost her calf, Merak and a year later, in 2022, gave birth to her second calf, Bilya. Sadly, however, only months later, River was seen alone again, with the calf assumed dead. And then about a year later, in early 2024, River herself was found dead. Devastated, but not surprised, I went to collect the pectoral fin to investigate the entanglement injury. The wound was open to the bone. The fishing line was embedded in the bone. There was inflammation, and likely infection causing lesions on the bone. I am still waiting for final pathology results, but all signs point to the cause of death being by septicemia due to the chronic entanglement. Unfortunately, River’s story is not in any way unique. Many other dolphins have suffered the same fate: entanglement, no intervention, pain, prolonged compromised social and physical welfare, and eventually death.

How will the funds raised be used

I wholeheartedly believe that we can do more to ensure entangled dolphins are helped when they need it. Over the last decade, I have spoken to politicians, I have engaged relevant government departments, I have gone to the media, I have pushed for policies and Standard Operating Procedures to be put in place, I have helped in monitoring entangled dolphins, I have helped in intervention action, and I have talked to anyone who listens. But, unfortunately, progress is slow and dolphins are still spending months on end entangled while we are documenting their slow death. Before asking for your help, I contacted government departments, animal welfare organizations, and ones representing or working with recreational fishers for funding support but have so far only received rejections. So, I don’t know what else to do than to ask for your help. The funds will go directly into holding a workshop that brings together managers, regulators, veterinarians, pathologists, scientists and other organizations involved in dolphin entanglement response. The aim of the workshop is to improve dolphin entanglement response decision making, discuss legislative and policy reforms and learn from global experts about best practice in intervention action. This workshop will be held at the 25th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Perth, Western Australia in November 2024. The money raised will cover travel and lodging cost for global experts participating in the workshop and a stipend for myself to be able to write up a ‘decision making and best practice in responding to dolphin incidents’ document. This document will be submitted to an open access peer reviewed journal so that it will be available for everyone. I hope this workshop and its outcomes will raise the bar by setting an expectation of intervention action and empowering and educating governments, organizations, and individuals to respond to dolphin incidents more effectively.

I am committed to speaking for those who can't speak for themselves, and I hope you will join this fight by financially supporting my efforts! Every penny means more to me than you could ever imagine. And for entangled dolphins, it may be the difference between life or death. Thank you so much for your support!