Articles About Marine Life

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the meeting schedules of many international conventions, with most in-person meetings canceled or postponed (see AWI Quarterly, fall 2020). The biennial meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was among...

In October 2019, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) indicated it had received a permit application from Mystic Aquarium to import five captive-born beluga whales from MarineLand in Canada, for the purposes of scientific research...

On August 14, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a permit to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as several tribal entities, to kill up to 540 California sea lions and 176 Steller sea...

AWI participated as an invited expert in the fourth series of meetings of the Caribbean Marine Mammals Preservation Network (CARI’MAM) in October and November. This year’s meetings were held virtually. CARI’MAM comprises marine mammal stakeholders...

Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity, by journalist David Kirby, is a 2012 book that examines the killing of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau by the orca Tilikum. The...

Little White and Little Grey, two young belugas originally captured from Russia’s Okhotsk Sea and held in a dolphinarium in Shanghai, China, for a decade, are now the first residents in the world’s first cetacean...

In 2017, France’s minister of ecology issued a decree phasing out the captive display of cetaceans through a breeding and trade ban. Decrees in France are similar to executive orders in the United States and...

In an unprecedented statement, 361 cetacean scientists, including AWI’s Dr. Naomi Rose, have signed an open letter expressing grave concern about the risk of extinction of many species and populations of cetaceans due to entanglement...

Two captive beluga whales who had been held at an entertainment facility in China have just been given a chance to stretch their flippers in a new sea pen sanctuary. The two 12-year-old females, dubbed...

Technology entrepreneurs have designed an animatronic dolphin so lifelike that volunteers who swam with it were unaware it was not alive until told the truth. Its battery lasts 10 hours, and it is resistant to...