Sperm whale found dead off Cape Breton after swallowing 150 kg of fishing gear

© Submitted by the Marine Animal Response Society Members of the Marine Animal Response Society and the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative at the Atlantic Veterinary College perform a necropsy on a sperm whale in Cape Breton. Marine mammal experts were shocked to find a sperm whale off Cape Breton, N.S., recently died with 150 kilograms of fishing gear in its stomach. The Marine Animal Response Society says the finding highlights the serious issue of garbage and so-called ghost fishing gear in the oceans. The society says so-called ghost fishing gear that has been abandoned or lost and other waste are an increasing problem for the oceans. "The ghost gear is obviously a hardship for those that lose it, that can't reuse it, and also it's bad for the environment," he said.