REVIEW article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Megafauna
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1629516
A global review of operational fishery interactions with killer whales (Orcinus orca): dynamics, impacts, and management strategies
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, United States
- 2University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska, United States
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Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are cosmopolitan, apex predators that sometimes interact with commercial fisheries. These fishery interactions can affect killer whales, sometimes harmfully, and cause negative socioeconomic consequences for the fishing industry. This review examines global trends in commercial fishery interactions with killer whales by analyzing 69 articles published between 1963 and 2024. These articles noted interactions between killer whales and fisheries in all oceans, but especially at high latitudes. Most documented interactions involved the depredation of longlines. Killer whales have been observed depredating a minimum of 30 species, mainly large fish such as tunas (Thunnus spp.). Bycatch, injuries, fishers' retaliatory measures, and artificial provisioning impacted killer whales that interacted with fisheries. Various mitigation measures have been tested with mixed success. This review outlines policy options to address interactions between killer whales and fisheries and identifies existing knowledge gaps.
Keywords: odontocete, depredation, bycatch, Fisheries Management, Human-wildlife conflict
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Luck, Myers and Criddle. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Emma Kathleen Luck, ekluck@alaska.edu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.