AWI Quarterly Articles | Marine Wildlife

In 2014, AWI was invited by Virgin Holidays—one of the world’s biggest tourism companies—to take part in a stakeholder process through which Virgin intended to fine tune its policy on swim-with-dolphin attractions. Dolphinarium operators also...

An influential faction of the 115 th Congress is expressing a clear animosity toward animal protection measures. Emboldened, perhaps, by an administration that appears sympathetic to their aims, this faction is waging an escalating assault...

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) reintroduced the Orca Responsibility and Care Advancement (ORCA) Act (HR 1584) , in March 2017. The original bill—introduced in November 2015—was quite simple: It would have amended the Marine Mammal Protection...

As apex predators, sharks play a vital role in global marine ecosystems. But shark numbers are declining at an alarming rate due to shark finning, the practice of cutting off the fins—often, brutally, while the...

Dr. Carole Carlson, a valiant advocate for the conservation of whales and their marine environment, died on March 24 in Provincetown, Massachusetts, of pancreatic cancer. She was 69. Carole was among the pioneering researchers who...

Every year, humans deliberately and accidently dump more than 8 million tons of plastic into the ocean. It doesn’t go away. Some of it coalesces into massive gyres. Some is eaten by animals.

In this compelling work, distinguished philosopher of science and scuba diver Peter Godfrey-Smith writes of his experiences studying the minds of cephalopods, particularly octopuses and cuttlefish, and the minds of highly intelligent animals of other...

At its heart an ethnography, Eating the Ocean , by gender and culture professor Elspeth Probyn, is a challenging and unexpected contribution to the growing “food politics” genre. Although focused on questions concerning the sustainability...

Tilikum, the 12,000-pound male orca at SeaWorld Orlando who was featured in the documentary Blackfish in 2013, was probably born in 1980, give or take a year. Ever since he killed his trainer, Dawn Brancheau...

Two years ago, scientists estimated that only 100 vaquita porpoises remained in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California. In April 2015, as vaquitas continued to die due to entanglement in fishing gear, the Mexican government proposed...