This talk will feature Francine Kershaw's research titled "The future is ropeless: Saving whales from entanglements by advancing new fishing technologies." Deadly entanglements of large whales in fishing gear used to fish lobster and crab have increased in the last decade, largely due to the influence of climate change on whale distributions. A new fishing technology known as “ropeless” gear is designed in a way that virtually eliminates the risk of entanglement while preserving fishing opportunities – a rare example of a win-win story in the conservation world. Challenges remain in realizing the large-scale adoption of ropeless fishing and solutions require forming alliances between fishers, conservationists, scientists, engineers, philanthropists, seafood buyers and retailers, and state and federal agencies.