State Senator Mike McGuire has responded to a record number of whales entrapped by debris such as crab fishing gear along the California coast with a bill that would create a regulatory program for such gear. That's now passed the Assembly and awaits the Governor's approval.

CBS5 reports that the bill, if it becomes law, would provide incentives for fishermen to retrieve fishing gear that they might otherwise leave behind. Fisherman would be paid for all the old crab pots they recover from the ocean at the end of the year, provided they receive a retrieval permit through the program. The bill would also institute a fee for fisherman who don't buy back their abandoned crab traps, which, if it were to go unpaid, would keep them from receiving their vessel permit for the next season.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat writes that thousands of crab pots are believed to be lost in the ocean each year, and the legislation comes amid rising reports of dangerous entanglements: 40 have been observed so far this year, McGuire says, and last year, 57 were reported, the most ever recorded since the National Marine Fisheries began to keep count in 1982. There were an average of 11 entanglements from 2000 to 2012. It's a situation that's given rise to a group of rescuers, known as California Whale Rescue, who track down entangled whales in an attempt to help disentangle them.

“Whale entanglement numbers are skyrocketing off the California coast and we’re bringing together crabbers and environmentalists to get this common sense bill signed into law,” McGuire said in a statement.

Related: Video: Whales Entangled In Crab Pot Lines Freed By Rescuers