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Hundreds of wild species gained important protections at the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP20), held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in late 2025. After more than a fortnight of debate among more than 3,200 delegates representing over 160
Mexico is considering wholesale revisions to fishing regulations, originally promulgated in September 2020 to protect the vaquita porpoise and its habitat in the Upper Gulf of California, the species’ only home. The vaquita population has dwindled to 10 or fewer animals due to illegal fishing with gillnets, which entangle and kill vaquita. The 2020 regulations—were
This year, we celebrate a pair of milestones in the history of international wildlife governance: December 3, 2026, is the 80th anniversary of the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), the treaty that established the International Whaling Commission (IWC). It has also been 40 years since the IWC’s global prohibition
Even before humans started plying the oceans in noisy ships, the oceans produced a symphony of natural sounds emanating from marine life, rain, crashing waves, and the Earth itself. When the noise from ship engines, seismic testing, and active sonar was added, the symphony became a cacophony, with potential adverse impacts to marine life. Unlike
When the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management took public comments last summer to inform its forthcoming offshore oil and gas leasing plan, AWI submitted comments on behalf of dozens of wildlife protection groups opposing the agency’s intent to drastically expand offshore oil and gas development to all US coasts. The draft plan published in late
In Why Whales Sing, cognitive scientist Dr. Eduardo Mercado III challenges decades of scientific research into the purpose behind humpback whale song, in which the prevailing view is that it is a function of sexual selection and is used by males to attract a mate. He argues that humpback whales may instead be using their songs
The House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held an oversight hearing in December entitled “Sea Lion Predation in the Pacific Northwest.” While several members of Congress and witnesses claimed that expanding the killing of pinnipeds is necessary to save endangered salmon, others were aligned with AWI’s position that the lethal take
The Trump administration is seeking to reinstate four regulations issued in 2019 during President Trump’s first term that severely weakened critical Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. These regulations curtailed protections afforded to threatened species, allowed economic considerations to be weighed when deciding whether to list a species, significantly undermined the process for designating protected habitat,
In December, the House Natural Resources Committee voted to advance HR 4776, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act. Targeting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our country’s basic charter for protecting the environment, the SPEED Act would narrow the scope of federal actions that receive an environmental review, as well as limit
For more than half a century, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) has played a crucial role in safeguarding marine mammals from myriad threats—from entanglement in fishing gear to human-caused noise pollution—enabling many vulnerable populations to recover. Despite its success and long-standing bipartisan support, in late July, Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) released draft legislation that
The recently concluded 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP20), held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, resulted in significant victories for wildlife protection. Dozens of species were added to either CITES Appendix I (prohibiting most international trade for commercial purposes) or
In October, the Trump administration finalized plans to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas development. Designated as a protected area in 1960 and expanded in 1980, ANWR is a region of stunning biodiversity that provides habitat for an estimated 700 species of animals and plants, including
This past October, in Kingston, Jamaica, AWI participated in the biennial meetings for the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region. This international treaty—adopted in 1983 in Cartagena, Columbia, and commonly known as the “Cartagena Convention”—is dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of the Wider Caribbean
The 2013 documentary Blackfish told the story of Tilikum, an adult male orca who killed his trainer, Dawn Brancheau, in February 2010 at SeaWorld Orlando. In response to this incident, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited SeaWorld for a willful violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s “General Duty Clause” (GDC), which requires employers
The damaging interactions between orcas and yachts off the Iberian Peninsula in Europe continued in 2025, shifting for the first time in years back to the north (rather than concentrating around the Strait of Gibraltar). The first interactions were reported in 2020—for six seasons, almost half of the 40 or so orcas who live in
In October, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) convened in Australia. AWI is a member of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), an alliance of conservation organizations from around the world that works to protect the Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems from harmful human activities. As an observer to
Gulf World Marine Park, a dolphinarium in Panama City Beach, Florida, has closed after 55 years. It was purchased in 2015 by The Dolphin Company (TDC), which owns a string of dolphinariums in Mexico (where the company is based) and which, over the past decade, has expanded into the United States. TDC filed for bankruptcy
This past October, AWI representatives attended back-to-back annual meetings of the Ropeless Consortium and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts. For four days, groups of scientists, policymakers, advocates, fishers, and educators gathered to discuss issues impacting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, including the feasibility of
The Christine Stevens Wildlife Award—named in honor of AWI’s late founder and president for over 50 years—provides grants of up to $15,000 to help fund innovative strategies for humane, nonlethal wildlife conflict management and study. This year, over 40 applications were submitted encompassing species ranging from bees to beaked whales and issues such as mitigating light
The House Natural Resources Committee has continued to pursue a markedly anti-wildlife agenda by teeing up action on an array of bills to weaken and eliminate protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The committee spent July holding meetings on bills that would delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem