ย Marine Mammals
Table of Contents
Introduction
Types of Marine Mammals
Cetaceans
Dolphins
Whales
Manatees
Sealions
Seals
Walrus
Whales
Threats to Marine Mammals
Many threats to marine mammals overlap, so this top section includes general threats to the group in general, then beneath we've started a list of threats to each type of marine mammal, for example walruses are effected by loss of ice for breeding space, while manatees are affected by sea grass meadow loss.
The two sections are organized alphabetically.
Overfishing
Some whales rely on crabs which have been overfished, other species such as killer whales rely on salmon which we fish relentlessly. Harmfull fishing practices damage the ocean floors, which support the entire food chain. Dumped or lost fishing gear (aka ghost nets or ghost gear) contribute massively to the plastic pollution which chokes and entangles marine animals.
Aquaculture
Around 1/3rd of all caught fish end up being fed to livestock including aquaculture farms. This means aquaculture supports the fishing industry they claim to replaces, while the fish farms themselves pollute the surrounding eco-systems with pesticides and highly concentrated animal waste which smothers and poisons those ecosystems.
Pollution
Noise Pollution
Aquatic ecosystems have been lively with the sounds of clicking, moaning, singing, and many other sounds that scientists have only recently begun to detect with waterproof technology. However with the invention of boat propellers, under-water drilling and mining, as well as sonar and seismic surveys, our oceans, bays, and estuaries are becoming increasingly loud for our aquatic brethren.ย
Some of these sounds are quieter but ever-present, causing changes in the feeding and breeding habits of aquatic life, increasing their stress levels, and making it harder to navigate or avoid predators. The most extreme noises can be very short, but their volume can seriously harm wildlife, even rupturing their organs, driving whales to beach themselves, or simply killing them in the water.
Click the Noise Pollution button to learn more about noise pollution and ways we can combat or eliminate noise pollution in aquatic environments.
PFAS
Much like humans, whales have been found to store PFAS in their body fat and blood samples. Human mothers of Inuit communities have been cautioned that their breast milk contains high quantities of PFAS and pesticides, putting infants at risk. Whales living in the same hunting waters and eating the same foods are passing these same chemicals to their offspring both in utero and via their milk.
Plastic Pollution
Plastic pollution comes in ever size from sprawling "ghost nets" that can tangle up massive whales and drown them, to microplastics which are entering the food web at every level. This means that every time an animal with microplastic is eaten, the creature further up the food chain absorbs more plastics into their flesh and blood. For predatory marine mammals, this puts them at greater risk as a higher percentage of their foods are often predators who have accumulated increasingly large amounts of plastic chunks and microplastics from their own prey. This problem will continue to worsen until we "turn off the tap" on plastics entering our oceans, which far outpaces the speed at which we can clean our beaches or waters.
Water Pollution
Marine mammals, along with their predators and prey are sensitive to what we dump in our waterways and oceans. Since farming constitutes most of our land use, much of our pollution comes in the form of livestock manure, over-use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. However factories, roadways and parking lots, mining, oil and gas drilling, plus even our gardening habits can send shocking amounts of toxic chemicals into our waters.
Livestock have a particularly large impact on our waterways, creating ocean dead zones such as the record-sized dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
This page explores water pollution from a variety of industries, and how to combat these issues.
Threats to Dolphins
Boat Collisions
Noise Pollution
Pollution including Ghost Gear
Starvation
Threats to Manatees
Boat Collisions
Noise Pollution
Pollution including Ghost Gear
Starvation
Threats to Walrus
Melting Sea & Coastal Ice
Threats to Whales
Boat Collisions
Noise Pollution
Pollution including Ghost Gearย
Entanglement in vertical fishing lines and lobster pot equipment.
Starvation
Whaling "Despite international opposition to commercial whaling and declining demand for whale meat, Norwegian whalers still brutally killed 575 minke whales during the 2021 season, which is the highest number killed since 2016.
The International Whaling Commission issued a global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, which went into effect in 1986, but Norway has formally objected to it and has killed more than 14,000 minke whales since 1993.
For the last three years, itโs issued a self-allocated quota of 1,278 minke whales, although it hasnโt killed as many and the country has continued to face criticism from around the world over concerns that not only is it incredibly cruel, itโs certainly unsustainable โ especially considering the fact that many whales who are killed are pregnant females.
Whale hunting is unconscionable for many reasons. Whales are intelligent and lead social and emotional lives. Yet whalers still hunt them with grenade-tipped harpoons, and a significant percentage do not die or fall unconscious immediately, with some experiencing more than 20 minutes of excruciating pain and horror before dying. Whales are keystone species essential to their ecosystems and play a critical role in mitigating the climate crisis. In killing them, humans harm all the other animals who share the ocean with them, and ourselves.
What makes this situation all the more frustrating is that the citizens of Norway do not support whale hunting. The industry remains largely subsidized by the government and is partially propped up by unwitting tourists who consume whale meat. Norwegian whalers have admitted to dumping whale meat overboard, and recently uncovered documents have revealed that whale meat is even sold for dog food."
8:04 minute video explores the Fossil Fuel Industry's claims that wind turbines are killing whales.
Solutions
Reduce Noise Pollution
Noise pollution not only hurts many species including marine mammals and even corals, but makes it impossible for many species to communicate, detect predators, or find food.
The shipping industry is the biggest cause of ocean noise pollution, but tourism, recreational boating, underwater drilling and exploration for fossil fuels plus other resources, as well as military noises also harm these wild animals.
Our Noise is Killing Marine Life, but We can Turn Down the Volume
13:45 minute video includes suggestions such as bubble curtains for wind and hydro powers building projects.
Resources & Guides
Whale and Dolphin Species Guide "There are around 90 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, known collectively as "cetaceans". From the enormous blue whale to the tiny vaquita and Hector's dolphin, you will find information and amazing facts about many of these incredible creatures in our species guide."
Tools & Apps
Animals
Beluga Bits ๐ ๐ท"Examine underwater photos of wild beluga whales and help us identify the age, sex, and group size. We also need keen eyes to look for identifying marks to recognize beluga that return to this location year after year."
Dolphin Chat ๐ฌ ๐ง โ๏ธ "Identification and classification of dolphin vocalizations."
Manatee Chat ๐ ๐ง "Identification and classification of manatee calls"
Mapping Change ๐๐"Help us use over a century's worth of specimens to map the distribution of animals, plants, and fungi. Your data will let us know where species have been and predict where they may end up in the future!"
iNaturalist ๐ฑ ๐ท ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฆ ๐ฆ ๐ย A great way to learn about the wildlife around us! Help share vital species population information and images with educational institutions, conservancy organizations, etc. This information can help monitor species populations and information can be used to provide species with protection. Please be very careful about giving exact coordinates for animals that in danger from poachers, as this information can be used to track rare/valuable animals.
Whale Chat ๐ ๐ง โ๏ธ"Identification and classification of humpback whale vocalizations"
Africa
Namibia
Atlas of Marine Mammals "A new initiative to compile basic distribution data for Namibia's marine mammals. Note that records of seals are not submitted here, but through the Mammal atlas."
Europe
UK
Mammal Mapper "is a free app where you can record signs and sightings of mammals in the UK. Mammals can be recorded along a route whilst youโre walking, running, cycling or even a passenger in a car, or as one-off sightings, for example a hedgehog in your garden."
Northern Ireland
Ireland's Citizen Science Portal "The National Biodiversity Data Centre works to make biodiversity data and information more freely available in order to better understand and assist the protection of Irelandโs biodiversity."
North America
Beluga Bits ๐ ๐ท โ๏ธ "Examine underwater photos of wild beluga whales and help us identify the age, sex, and group size. We also need keen eyes to look for identifying marks to recognize beluga that return to this location year after year."
USA
Florida
Manatee Chat "Identification and classification of manatee calls"
Georgia
Marsh Explorer "Explore the salt marshes with us to learn more about spatial relationships among different species!"
Hawaii
OceanEYEs ๐ ๐ # ๐ท"NOAA scientists need your help to count fish and improve data used in management of the Hawaiสปi โDeep 7โ bottomfish fishery! NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center deploys stereo-camera systems on the seafloor to help monitor populations of deep-water snappers and groupers. The local commercial fishery in Hawaiสปi targets these fish primarily. Each camera can record tens of thousands of images! Human observers annotate the images to count and measure each species. This can take months using only a small team of researchers. With your help, we can speed up the work and train machine vision algorithms to improve our analysis. This will make us one step closer to improving fish stock assessments, which are used by fishery managers!"
Organizations
International
The National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF) "is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization recognized globally as a leader in marine mammal science, medicine, and conservation. Our team of experts is answering critical questions about the health of the worldโs marine mammals and our shared oceans."
International Marine Mammal Project "For 40 years, the International Marine Mammal Project has led the fight to protect dolphins, whales and the ocean environment. We have achieved victories for marine mammals around the world and work to make the oceans safe for whales, dolphins and marine life. We are a proud project of the non-profit Earth Island Institute, headquartered in Berkeley, California USA."
Europe
OSPAR "is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.
OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.
The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions ("OS" for Oslo and "PAR" for Paris)."