Anthropogenic Impacts on the Welfare of Wild Marine Mammals

Vere, Amber J. de; Lilley, Malin K.; Frick, Erin E.

doi:10.1578/am.44.2.2018.150

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Thirdly, if the disease profile does differ between captive and free-ranging populations, that would only show that these environments are different—not that one environment is inherently worse than the other. Even if it turns out that there are health situations that are only encountered in facilities, there are others, such as starvation, ship strikes, and entanglement [ 112 , 113 ], that are only encountered in the wild.…”

Section: Methodological Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bias and Misrepresentation of Science Undermines Productive Discourse on Animal Welfare Policy: A Case Study

Jaakkola¹,

Bruck

Connor

et al. 2020

Animals

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Reliable scientific knowledge is crucial for informing legislative, regulatory, and policy decisions in a variety of areas. To that end, scientific reviews of topical issues can be invaluable tools for informing productive discourse and decision-making, assuming these reviews represent the target body of scientific knowledge as completely, accurately, and objectively as possible. Unfortunately, not all reviews live up to this standard. As a case in point, Marino et al.’s review regarding the welfare of killer whales in captivity contains methodological flaws and misrepresentations of the scientific literature, including problematic referencing, overinterpretation of the data, misleading word choice, and biased argumentation. These errors and misrepresentations undermine the authors’ conclusions and make it impossible to determine the true state of knowledge of the relevant issues. To achieve the goal of properly informing public discourse and policy on this and other issues, it is imperative that scientists and science communicators strive for higher standards of analysis, argumentation, and objectivity, in order to clearly communicate what is known, what is not known, what conclusions are supported by the data, and where we are lacking the data necessary to draw reliable conclusions.

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Section: Methodological Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bias and Misrepresentation of Science Undermines Productive Discourse on Animal Welfare Policy: A Case Study

Jaakkola¹,

Bruck

Connor

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…Moreover, studies show that in some regions the populations of long-finned pilot whales are very small. In the Gibraltar region, the developmental assessment of the current 250-member population showed an 85% probability of extinction of the population over the next 100 years, due to viral diseases that decimated the population in 2006 and 2007 and factors resulting from anthropopressure: climate change, increasing maritime traffic, increasing environmental pollution, and the impact of the fishing industry (18,19).…”

Section: The Pilot Whale As a Subject Of Human Cultural Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4. Supporters of hunting argue that other factors resulting from anthropopressure cause much stronger interference in the population of pilot whales than the hunting itself (19).…”

Section: Social Perception Of Hunting For Pilot Whales On the Faroe Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ritual Slaughter: The Tradition of Pilot Whale Hunting on the Faroe Islands

Mamzer

2021

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Faroese people consider grindadráp, the hunting of pilot whales, as a part of their cultural heritage, but from the point of view of veterinary sciences and biology, the method of killing pilot whales is a form of a ritual slaughter performed on fully conscious animals that are aware of their circumstances. Pilot whales are social, intelligent, and communicative animals that demonstrate complex social behaviors. Therefore, this traditional whaling method should be considered as a procedure in which animals are exposed to high levels of distress. In the context of contemporary civilizational development and material welfare, the practice of whaling may appear to be an inadequate and cruel relic of the past. This text explores social and cultural issues caused by pilot whale hunts and presents an understanding of the term tradition and some perspectives of how traditions change. The specificity of pilot whales as a species is presented, setting a foundation for a discussion about hunting itself. The conclusion of the text discusses different social perceptions of grindadráp by presenting arguments for and against the hunting. This analysis includes a presentation of actions undertaken bywhale hunting opponents.

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“…Small cetaceans around the world, particularly those found inshore and along the coast, are subject to increasing levels of human impact within their habitats (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al, 2016;de Vere et al, 2018). Animals face risks of injury from both direct interactions with potentially dangerous human activities, such as boating and fishing, as well as indirect interactions with discarded fishing gear and other types of marine debris (see for example, Laist, 1997;Read et al, 2006;Baulch and Perry, 2014;de Vere et al, 2018;Nichol et al, 2020). Despite efforts to minimize interactions and mitigate impacts, entanglement in fishing gear remains a major threat to many species, often resulting in unsustainable levels of mortality within localized populations (Read, 2008;Reeves et al, 2013;Hamilton and Baker, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Staying Alive: Long-Term Success of Bottlenose Dolphin Interventions in Southwest Florida

et al. 2021

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Small cetaceans face persistent threats from fisheries interactions, making effective mitigation a priority for conservation. In southwest Florida, interactions come primarily from small-scale recreational hook and line and trap/pot fisheries, with regional stranding network partners working with federal agency managers to assess and intervene as possible in cases of live animal entanglement. Evaluating success of intervention cases is difficult due to financial and logistical constraints which may preclude detailed follow-up monitoring. Survival over the initial 6 weeks post-release has been used as a marker of short-term success for small-cetacean rescue and/or rehabilitation cases. Early intervention prior to stranding, especially via remote disentanglement or rescue and immediate re-release onsite, can save entangled free-ranging dolphins facing life-threatening anthropogenic injuries. However, given the costs associated with interventions, it is important to understand the benefits of these endeavors not only to save individuals, but also to establish if and how saved individuals contribute to social functioning, survival and reproduction within small, resident populations facing multiple concurrent threats. Here we provide evidence from 27 well-documented common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) intervention cases during 1985–2019 where follow-up monitoring over multiple years sheds light on the longer-term success of these efforts and potential benefits to local populations. Nearly all rescued individuals (92%) survived longer than 6 weeks post-release (mean minimum survival period = 5 years, range 0–35 years), with 13 still observed frequently within their prior resident communities, in good physical health, and engaging in normal behavior. Survivorship rates did not decline substantially between 1 and 5 years post-rescue, meaning survival beyond 1 year may be a useful benchmark of long-term success. Rescued females that reached reproductive maturity (n = 4) have produced 12 post-intervention offspring to date. Social network analysis and demographic modeling applied to cases from the long-term resident community in Sarasota Bay confirmed that animals maintain social connections post-intervention and that interventions result in higher population growth rates. While not every intervention succeeds, this study demonstrates the conservation value of pre-stranding interventions which allow individuals that otherwise would be lost to remain viable and productive members of local populations when prevention of anthropogenic injury is not possible.

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Anthropogenic Impacts on the Welfare of Wild Marine Mammals

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

Bias and Misrepresentation of Science Undermines Productive Discourse on Animal Welfare Policy: A Case Study

Bias and Misrepresentation of Science Undermines Productive Discourse on Animal Welfare Policy: A Case Study

Ritual Slaughter: The Tradition of Pilot Whale Hunting on the Faroe Islands

Staying Alive: Long-Term Success of Bottlenose Dolphin Interventions in Southwest Florida

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