Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T00:00:39.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 37 - Marine Mammals

from I - Marine Species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2017

Edited by
United Nations
United Nations
Affiliation:
Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Marine mammals occupy a wide range of marine and some freshwater habitats around the world. They have been used by humans for millennia for food and to obtain other products. Marine mammals consist of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses), sirenians (dugongs and manatees), mustelids (sea otters and marine otters) and the polar bear – 130 or more species in total, including several that range into fresh water and some that exclusively occupy rivers and lakes. Human interactions, both direct and indirect, have negatively affected most marine mammal species at least to some degree. Historically, industrial harvesting greatly reduced the abundance of many populations. Although the intensity of such exploitation has declined in recent decades for many species, humans continue to use certain species of marine mammals in some places for food, skins, fur, ivory and increasingly as bait for fisheries. In addition, human activities continue to reduce the availability and quality of marine mammal habitats and cause substantial numbers of marine mammals to die incidentally as a result of entanglement or entrapment in fishing gear and from being struck by vessels. Mitigation of ongoing and future threats to marine mammals from human activities requires improved knowledge of those human activities and of the animals’ ecology, behaviour and habitat use.

Changes in Biological Diversity

Globally, certain species of marine mammals have become extinct over the last several centuries, i.e., Steller's sea cow, the Japanese sea lion, the Caribbean monk seal. The Yangtze River dolphin (baiji) is also likely to have become extinct although there has been one unconfirmed sighting in 2005. In addition, many populations have been reduced to remnant status, such that they no longer play a significant role in the ecosystem, i.e., they are functionally extinct. For example, right whales have essentially disappeared from the eastern North Atlantic, and walruses are gone from their former strongholds in south-eastern Canada (Gulf of St. Lawrence and Sable Island). The loss of marine mammal diversity due to actual and functional extinctions has had significant effects on marine ecosystems at varying scales from local to ocean-basin-wide (Estes et al., 2006).

Magnitude of changes

Besides the above-mentioned extinctions and extirpations, the numerical abundance (and biomass) of many other marine mammal populations has been greatly reduced.

Type
Chapter
Information
The First Global Integrated Marine Assessment
World Ocean Assessment I
 , pp. 753 - 762
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, S.N., Nelson, R.A., Ramsay, M.A., (1996). Changes in the body composition of fasting polar bears (Ursus maritimus): The effect of relative fatness on protein conservation. Physiological Zoology 69, 304-316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, J.D., Littnan, C.|L., Johnston, D.W. (2006). Potential effects of sea level rise on the terrestrial habitats of endangered and endemic megafauna in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Endangered Species Research 4:1-10.Google Scholar
Bejder, L., Samuels, A., Whitehead, H., Gales, N., Mann, J., Connor, R.C., Heithaus, M.R., Watson-Capps, J., Flaherty, C. and Krutzen, M. (2006). Decline in Relative Abundance of Bottlenose Dolphins Exposed to Long-Term Disturbance. Conservation Biology, 20: 1791–1798.Google Scholar
Bloch, D., Desportes, G., Zachariassen, M. and Christensen, I. (1996). The northern bottlenose whale in the Faroe Islands, 1584-1993. Journal of Zoology, 239/1: 123–140.Google Scholar
Bowen, W.D. (1997). Role of Marine Mammals in Aquatic Ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress Series Vol 158:267-274.Google Scholar
Branch, T.A., Stafford, K.M., Palacios, D.M., Allison, C., Bannister, J.L. and many others (2007). Past and present distribution, densities and movements of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the southern hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean. Mammal Review 37: 116-175.Google Scholar
Burek, K.A., Gulland, M.D. and O'Hara, T.M. (2008). Effects of climate change on Arctic marine mammal health. Ecological Applications 18:S126–S134.Google Scholar
Busch, B.C. (1985). The War against the Seals: A History of the North American Seal Fishery. McGill University Press.
Buschmann, A.H., López, D.A., Medina, A. (1996). A review of the environmental effects and alternative production strategies of marine aquaculture in Chile. Aquacultural Engineering 15: 397–421.Google Scholar
CIRVA (2014). Report of the fifth meeting of the ‘Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita.’ http://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/report-5th-meetingof-the-international-committee-for-the-recovery-of-the-vaquita-cirva.
Clapham, P. and Van Waerebeek, K. (2007). Bush-meat and bycatch: the sum of the parts. Molecular Ecology (2007) 16, 2607–2609 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03378.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, T.M., Ragen, T.J., Read, A.J., Vos, E., Baird, R.W., and many others. (2006). Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 7:177-187.Google Scholar
Currey, R.J.C., Boren, L.J., Sharp, B.R. and Peterson, D. (2012). A risk assessment of threats to Maui's dolphins. Ministry for Primary Industries and Department of Conservation, Wellington. 51 pp.
Dierauf, L. and Gulland, F.M.D (eds.). (2001). CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine: Health, Disease, and Rehabilitation. CRC Press: Boca Raton.CrossRef
Dobbs, K., Lawler, I. and Kwan, D. (2012). Dugongs in Australia and the Pacific. In: Hines, E., Reynolds, J., Mignucci-Giannoni, A., Aragones, L.V., and, M. Marmontel (eds.). 2012. Sirenian Conservation: Issues and Strategies in Developing Countries. The University Press of Florida. pp. 99-105.
Estes, J.A. and Duggins, D.O. (1995). Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecology paradigm. Ecological Monographs 65:75-100.Google Scholar
Estes, J.A., Tinker, M.T., Williams, T.M. and Doak, D.F. (1998). Killer whale predation on sea otters linking oceanic and nearshore ecosystems. Science 282: 473-476.Google Scholar
Estes, J.A., DeMaster, D.P., Doak, D.F., Williams, T.M., Brownell, R.L. Jr (Eds.). (2006). Whales, whaling and ocean ecosystems. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fahlman, A, Tyack, P.L., Miller, P.J.O. and Kvadsheim, P.H. (2014). How man-made interference might cause gas bubble emboli in deep diving whales. Frontiers in Physiology 5:13.Google Scholar
Ferguson, S.H., Stirling, I. and McLoughlin, P. (2005). Climate change and ringed seal (Phoca hispida) recruitment in western Hudson Bay. Marine Mammal Science, 21: 121-135.Google Scholar
Fisher, S.J. and Reeves, R.R. (2005). The global trade in live cetaceans: implications for conservation. Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy 8(4): 315-340.Google Scholar
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2010). Impacts of grey seals on fish populations in eastern Canada; summary. Science Advisory Report 2010/071. Available at http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2010/2010_071-eng.html. Consulted 23 December 2013.
Funayama, K., Hines, E., Davis, J., and Allen, S. (2012). Effects of sea-level rise on northern elephant seal breeding habitat at Point Reyes Peninsula, California. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 23: 233-245.Google Scholar
Gerber, L.R., Morissette, L., Kaschner, K., and D.Pauly. (2009). Should whales be culled to increase fishery yield? Science 323: 880-881.Google Scholar
Gerrodette, T., Taylor, B.L., Swift, R., Rankin, S., Jaramillo-Legorreta, A.M. and Rojas-Bracho., L. (2011). A combined visual and acoustic estimate of 2008 abundance, and change in abundance since 1997, for the vaquita, Phocoena sinus. Marine Mammal Science 27(2): E79–E100.Google Scholar
Gormley, A.M., Slooten, E., Dawson, S., Barker, R.J., Rayment, W., du Fresne, S. and Brager, S. (2012). First evidence that marine protected areas can work for marine mammals. Journal of Applied Ecology 2012, 49, 474–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamner, R.M., Oremus, M., Stanley, M., Brown, P., Constantine, R., and Baker, C.S. (2012). Estimating the abundance and effective population size of Maui's dolphins using microsatellite genotypes in 2010–11, with retrospective matching to 2001–07. Department of Conservation, Auckland, 44 pp.
Hedley, C. (2010). The 1998 Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program: Recent Developments in the Tuna-Dolphin Controversy in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Ocean Development&International Law 32:1.Google Scholar
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., Iversen, M., Hjort Nielsen, M., Lockyer, C., Stern, H. and Ribergaard, M.H. (2011). Harbour porpoises respond to climate change. Ecology and Evolution 1(4): 579–585. doi: 10.1002/ece3.51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higham, J., Bejder, L. and Williams, R. (eds.). (2014). Whale-watching: Sustainable Tourism and Ecological Management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 387 pages.CrossRef
Hines, E., Ponnampalam, L., Jamal, F., Jackson-Ricketts, J., and Whitty, T. (2014). Report of the 3rd Workshop on the Biology and Conservation of Cetaceans and Dugongs of South-East Asia. UNEP/CMS Secretariat, Bonn, Germany.
Hitchmough, R. (2010). Conservation status of New Zealand marine mammals (suborders Cetacea and Pinnipedia), 2009, New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00288330.2010.482970).CrossRef
Hucke-Gaete, R., Haro, D., Torres-Florez, J.|P., Montecinos, Y., Viddi, F.A., Bedriñana, L., and Ruiz, J. (2013). A historical feeding ground for humpback whales in the Eastern South Pacific revisited: the case of northern Patagonia, Chile. Aquatic Conservation: Marine&Freshwater Ecosystems 23: 858–867. DOI: 10.1002/aqc.2343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IUCN (2015). International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Red List under the species Enhydra lutris and Lontra felina (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7750/0 and /12303/0accessed 12 July 2015).
IWC (2013a). Report of the IWC Workshop on the Assessment of Southern Right Whales. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 14 (Supplement): 439-462.
IWC (2013b). Report of the Scientific Committee for 2013. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management14 (Supplement):59.
Jackson, J.A., Carroll, E, Smith, T.D., Patenaude, N. and Baker, C.S. (2011). Taking stock – the historical demography of the New Zealand right whale (the Tohora) 1820-2008. Final Report, Taking Stock Project. Ministry of Fisheries, New Zealand, 35 pp.
Johnson, C.K., Tinker, M.T., Estes, J.A., Conrad, P.A., Staedler, M.S., Miller, M.A., Jessup, D.A. and Mazet, J.A. (2009). Prey choice and habitat use drive sea otter pathogen exposure in a resource-limited coastal system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106(7): 2242-2247.
Kaschner, K. and Pauly, D. (2004). Competition between Marine Mammals and Fisheries: Food for thought. Humane Society, Washington DC, 28 pp.
Ketten, D.R. (2014). Sonars and strandings: are beaked whales the aquatic acoustic canary? Acoustics Today 10 (3): 46-56.Google Scholar
Knowlton, A.R. and Kraus, S.D. (2001). Mortality and serious injury of northern right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 2: 193-201.Google Scholar
Kovacs, K.M., Aguilar, A., Aurioles Gamboa, D., Burkanov, V., Campagna, C., Gales, N., Gelatt, T. and Goldsworthy, S. (2012). Global threats to pinnipeds. Marine Mammal Science 28(2): 414-436.Google Scholar
Kreb, D., Reeves, R.R., Thomas, P.O., Braulik, G. and Smith, B.D. (Eds.). (2010). Establishing protected areas for Asian freshwater cetaceans: Freshwater cetaceans as flagship species for integrated river conservation management, Samarinda, 19-24 October 2009. Final Workshop Report, Yayasan Konservasi RASI, Samarinda, Indonesia.
Laist, D.W., Knowlton, A.E., Mead, J.G., Collet, A.S. and Podesta, M. (2001). Collisions between ships and whales. Marine Mammal Science 17:35-75.Google Scholar
Laist, D.W., Knowlton, A.E., and Pendleton, D. (2014). Effectiveness of mandatory vessel speed limits for protecting North Atlantic right whales. Endangered Species Research 23:133-147.Google Scholar
Lavery, T.J., Roudnew, B., Gill Semout, J., Seuront, L., Johnson, G., Mitchell, J.G. and Smetacek, V. (2010). Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, Vol. 277 no. 1699: 3527-3531.Google Scholar
Lavery Trish, J., Roudnew, B., Seymour, J., Mitchell, J.G., Smetacek, V. and Nicol, S. (2014). Whales sustain fisheries: Blue whales stimulate primary production in the Southern Ocean. Marine Mammal Science 30(3): 888-904.Google Scholar
Leaper, R., Cooke, J., Trathan, P., Reid, K., Rowntree, V. and Payne, R., (2006). Global climate change drives southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) population dynamics. Biology Letters 2: 289-292.Google Scholar
McDonald, T.L., Richardson, W.J., Greene, C.R. Jr., Blackwell, S.B., Nations, C.S., Nielson, R.M. and Streever, B. (2012). Detecting changes in the distribution of calling bowhead whales exposed to fluctuating anthropogenic sounds. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 12: 91-106.Google Scholar
MacLeod, C.D. (2009). Global climate change, range changes and potential implications for the conservation of marine cetaceans: a review and synthesis. Endangered Species Research 7: 125–136. doi: 10.3354/esr00197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, H., O'Shea, T.J. and Reynolds, J.E. III, (2012). Ecology and conservation of the sirenia. Cambridge University Press.
Marsh, H. and Morales-Vela, B. (2012). Guidelines for developing protected areas for sirenians. In Hines, E., Reynolds, J., Mignucci-Giannoni, A, Aragones, L.V., and, M. Marmontel (eds.) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and Strategies in Developing Countries. The University Press of Florida.
Morissette, L., Kaschner, K., and Gerber, L.R. (2010). ‘Whales eat fish’? Demystifying the myth in the Caribbean marine ecosystem. Fish and Fisheries 11:388-204.Google Scholar
NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service), (1999). Report to Congress: Impacts of California sea lions and Pacific harbor seals on salmonids and West Coast ecosystems. USDOC/NOAA.NMFS. NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service). (undated). ETP Cetacean Assessment, https://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx?Division=PRD&ParentMenuId=228&id=1408), accessed 19 April 2015.
Oremus, M., Leqata, J. and Baker, C.S. (2013). The resumption of traditional drivehunts of dolphins in the Solomon Islands in early 2013. IWC Scientific Committee Meeting Document. SC/65a/SM08.
Punt, A.E. and Butterworth, D.S. (1995). The effects of future consumption by the Cape fur seal on catches and catch rates of the Cape hakes. 4. Modelling the biological interaction between Cape fur seals Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus and the Cape hakes Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus. South African Journal of Marine Science 16: 255-285.Google Scholar
Pyenson, N.D. et al. (2014). Repeated mass strandings of Miocene marine mammals from Atacama Region of Chile point to sudden death at sea. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B281:20133316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3316.CrossRef
Read, A.J., Drinke, P. and Northridge, S. (2006). Bycatch of Marine Mammals in U.S. and Global Fisheries. Conservation Biology 20 (1): 163–169.Google Scholar
Reeves, R.R. (2000). The Value of Sanctuaries, Parks, and Reserves (Protected Areas) as Tools for Conserving Marine Mammals. Final report for MMC contract T74465385. 50 pp. Available from the Marine Mammal Commission, Bethesda, Maryland.
Roe, W.D., Howe, L., Baker, E.J., Burrows, L. and Hunter, S.A. (2013). An atypical genotype of Toxoplasma gondii as a cause of mortality in Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori). Veterinary Parasitology 192: 67-74.Google Scholar
Roman, J. and McCarthy, J.J. (2010). The whale pump: marine mammals enhance primary productivity in a coastal basin. PLoS ONE 5, e13255.CrossRef
Salvadeo, C.J., Lluch-Belda, D., Gómez-Gallardo, D.A., Urbán-Ramírez, J. and MacLeod, C.D. (2010). Climate change and a poleward shift in the distribution of the Pacific white-sided dolphin in the northeastern Pacific. Endang Species Research 11: 13–19. doi: 10.3354/esr00252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaughnessy, P.D., Goldsworthy, S.D., and Mackay, A.I. (2014). Status and trends in abundance of New Zealand fur seal populations in South Australia. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2014/000338-1. SARDI Research Report Series No. 781. 33 pp.Google Scholar
Torres, L.G., Smith, T.D. Sutton, P., MacDiarmid, A., Bannister, J. and Miyashita, T. (2013). From exploitation to conservation: habitat models using whaling data predict distribution patterns and threat exposure of an endangered whale. Diversity and Distributions 19: 1138-1152.Google Scholar
Trujillo, F., Crespo, E., Van Damme, P.A. and, J.S. Usma (eds). (2010). The Action Plan for South American River Dolphins 2010 – 2020. WWF, Fundación Omacha, WDS, WDCS, Solamac. Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. 249 pp. Available at: http://www.iucn-csg.org/index.php/downloads/.
Turvey, S.T., Pitman, R.L., Taylor, B.L., Barlow, J., Akamatsu, T. and others. (2007). First human-caused extinction of a cetacean species? Biology Letters 3:537-540.Google Scholar
Wang, D., Turvey, S.T., Zhao, X.&Mei, Z. (2013). Neophocaena asiaeorientalis ssp. asiaeorientalis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. http://www.iucnredlist.org.Downloaded on 09 February 2014.
Williams, T.M., Estes, J.A., Doak, D.F. and Springer, A.M. (2004). Killer appetites: assessing the role of predators in ecological communities. Ecology 85:3373–3384. http://www.dx.doi.org/10.1890/03-0696CrossRef
Yodzis, P. (2001). Must top predators be culled for the sake of fisheries? Trends in Ecology&Evolution 16: 78-84.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Marine Mammals
  • Edited by United Nations
  • Book: The First Global Integrated Marine Assessment
  • Online publication: 18 May 2017
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108186148.047
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Marine Mammals
  • Edited by United Nations
  • Book: The First Global Integrated Marine Assessment
  • Online publication: 18 May 2017
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108186148.047
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Marine Mammals
  • Edited by United Nations
  • Book: The First Global Integrated Marine Assessment
  • Online publication: 18 May 2017
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108186148.047
Available formats
×