AWI Quarterly Articles | Marine Wildlife

Almost 3 million whales were killed for their oil and meat in the 20 th century, bringing many species and populations to the brink of extinction. Forty years ago, in July 1982, the International Whaling...

Fewer than 10 vaquita porpoises remain in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California. Yet, calves were observed during a 2021 survey, and new evidence, published in Science , indicates that the vaquita’s historical rarity reduces inbreeding...

In June 2021, a dubious US government–funded attempt to study minke whales’ response to ocean noise began in the northern Norway region of Lofoten. ( See AWI Quarterly , summer 2021. ) It involves stretching...

In October 1972, during the Nixon administration, the United States passed an environmental law well ahead of its time. The Marine Mammal Protection Act, inspired by horrific images of dolphins dying in tuna nets, factory...

With We Are All Whalers: The Plight of Whales and Our Responsibility, Dr. Michael Moore proves definitively that he is no ivory tower scientist. He speaks with passion about his decades-long research on whales and...

In Living Planet: The Web of Life on Earth—a fully updated edition of Sir David Attenborough’s 1984 book that accompanied the BBC’s Living Planet documentary series—the famed naturalist takes readers on a journey through the...

In September 2021, a damning inspection report prepared by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) was released for Miami Seaquarium. (See AWI Quarterly , winter 2021 .) The report...

Yet another country has concluded that keeping cetaceans in captivity for human entertainment is an archaic practice that should end. After a two-year effort by activists in Kazakhstan, as well as international efforts by AWI...

Hvalur, Iceland’s sole remaining fin whaling company, announced in March that it intends to resume hunting this summer for the first time since 2018. Its two aging whaling vessels are currently being prepared, and the...

On January 1, Hawaii became the first US state to make shark fishing illegal. The law bans anyone from knowingly capturing, entangling, or killing any shark species in the state’s marine waters. There are certain...