AWI Quarterly Articles | Marine Wildlife

If Dr. Naomi Rose, who joined AWI’s staff in September as the organization’s marine mammal scientist, ever elects to pen an autobiography, she knows where to go for the “early years” outline. All she has...

The past three years have seen considerable progress on the campaign to end the display of captive cetaceans. The change appears to date from the tragic death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed...

Uruguay’s national legislature has voted to establish a protected sanctuary for migrating right whales and other cetaceans. The final approval of the bill came via a unanimous (62–0) vote in the Chamber of Representatives on...

AWI is very pleased to report that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has denied a permit application by Georgia Aquarium and partners (including SeaWorld and Shedd Aquarium) to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales from...

Two new developments spell good news for sharks. The first: India, a major shark fishing nation, has banned shark finning at sea, the practice of slicing off a shark’s fins—often while still alive—and throwing the...

​​​​​​​Blackfish is a documentary film that tells the story of Tilikum—the now infamous orca, or killer whale, who dragged, shook and eventually drowned SeaWorld of Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau in February 2010. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite...

The Shark Conservation Act (SCA) of 2010 combats the heinous practice of shark finning—cutting off a shark's fins and discarding the body, often still alive, into the sea—by requiring that sharks in U.S. waters be...

Whales have been getting entangled in man-made ropes and nets, probably, since the first fishermen began to use these materials to catch fish thousands of years ago. However, before the advent of synthetic materials large...

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) isn’t meeting this year, but the whales themselves are getting no break from whalers. Despite a ban on the international trade in whale meat, Norway received 14 tons of whale...

SeaWorld Orlando has again been fined and labeled a repeat offender by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for continuing to operate a workplace that can “cause death or serious physical harm to employees.”