We describe broadly applicable principles for the conservation of wild living resources and mechanisms for their implementation. These principles were engendered from three starting points. First, a set of principles for the conservation of wild living resources (Holt and Talbot 1978) required reexamination and updating. Second, those principles lacked mechanisms for implementation and consequently were not as effective as they might have been. Third, all conservation problems have scientific, economic, and social aspects, and although the mix may vary from problem to problem, all three aspects must be included in problem solving. We illustrate the derivation of, and amplify the meaning of, the principles, and discuss mechanisms for their implementation. The principles are: Principle I. Maintenance of healthy populations of wild living resources in perpetuity is inconsistent with unlimited growth of human consumption of and demand for those resources. Principle II. The goal of conservation should be to secure present and future options by maintaining biological diversity at genetic, species, population, and ecosystem levels; as a general rule neither the resource nor other components of the ecosystem should be perturbed beyond natural boundaries of variation. Principle III. Assessment of the possible ecological and sociological effects of resource use should precede both proposed use and proposed restriction or expansion of ongoing use of a resource. Principle IV. Regulation of the use of living resources must be based on understanding the structure and dynamics of the ecosystem of which the resource is a part and must take into account the ecological and sociological influences that directly and indirectly affect resource use. Principle V. The full range of knowledge and skills from the natural and social sciences must be brought to bear on conservation problems. Principle VI. Effective conservation requires understanding and taking account of the motives, interests, and values of all users and stakeholders, but not by simply averaging their positions. Principle VII. Effective conservation requires communication that is interactive, reciprocal, and continuous. Mechanisms for implementation of the principles are discussed.

We describe broadly applicable principles for the conservation of wild living resources and mechanisms for their implementation. These principles were engendered from three starting points. First, a set of principles for the conservation of wild living resources (Holt and Talbot 1978) required reexamination and updating. Second, those principles lacked mechanisms for implementation and consequently were not as effective as they might have been. Third, all conservation problems have scientific, economic, and social aspects, and although the mix may vary from problem to problem, all three aspects must be included in problem solving. We illustrate the derivation of, and amplify the meaning of, the principles, and discuss mechanisms for their implementation.The principles are: Principle I. Maintenance of healthy populations of wild living resources in perpetuity is inconsistent with unlimited growth of human consumption of and demand for those resources.Principle II. The goal of conservation should be to secure present and future options by maintaining biological diversity at genetic, species, population, and ecosystem levels; as a general rule neither the resource nor other components of the ecosystem should be perturbed beyond natural boundaries of variation.Principle III. Assessment of the possible ecological and sociological effects of resource use should precede both proposed use and proposed restriction or expansion of ongoing use of a resource.Principle IV. Regulation of the use of living resources must be based on understanding the structure and dynamics of the ecosystem of which the resource is a part and must take into account the ecological and sociological influences that directly and indirectly affect resource use.Principle V. The full range of knowledge and skills from the natural and social sciences must be brought to bear on conservation problems.Principle VI. Effective conservation requires understanding and taking account of the motives, interests, and values of all users and stakeholders, but not by simply averaging their positions.Principle VII. Effective conservation requires communication that is interactive, reciprocal, and continuous.Mechanisms for implementation of the principles are discussed.

Morishita's ''multiple analysis'' of the whaling issue [Morishita J. Multiple analysis of the whaling issue: Understanding the dispute by a matrix. Marine Policy 2006;30:802-8] is essentially a restatement of the Government of Japan's whaling policy, which confuses the issue through selective use of data, unsubstantiated facts, and the vilification of opposing perspectives. Here, we deconstruct the major problems with Morishita's article and provide an alternative view of the whaling dispute. For many people in this debate, the issue is not that some whales are not abundant, but that the whaling industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself or to honestly assess the status of potentially exploitable populations. This suspicion has its origin in Japan's poor use of science, its often implausible stock assessments, its insistence that culling is an appropriate way to manage marine mammal populations, and its relatively recent falsification of whaling and fisheries catch data combined with a refusal to accept true transparency in catch and market monitoring. Japanese policy on whaling cannot be viewed in isolation, but is part of a larger framework involving a perceived right to secure unlimited access to global marine resources. Whaling is inextricably tied to the international fisheries agreements on which Japan is strongly dependent; thus, concessions made at the IWC would have potentially serious ramifications in other fora. r

Invasive tags designed to provide information on animal movements through radio or satellite monitoring have tremendous potential for the study of whales and other cetaceans. However, to date there have been no published studies on the survival of tagged animals over periods of years or decades. Researchers from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tracked five humpback whales with implanted radio tags in southeastern Alaska in August 1976 and July 1977, and tracked two humpback whales in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in June 1978. All seven of these individually identified humpback whales were resighted at least 20 yr after first being tagged, and five of the seven have been observed for more than 30 yr; some of them are among the most resighted humpback whales in the North Pacific. Photos of tagging sites taken during and subsequent to tagging operations show persistent but superficial scarring and no indication of infection.These pioneering field studies demonstrated both long-term survival of the whales and the short-term effects of deploying radio tags, which at the time were larger and more invasive than those typically used today.