Marine Mammal Protection Issues

International Marine Mammal Law is a comprehensive, introductory volume on the legal regimes governing the conservation and utilisation of marine mammals. Written as a textbook, it provides basic overviews of international conservation law, which enable the reader to understand the greater implications of governance of a specific group of species. Paired with biological information on some marine mammal species, the international regimes for whales, seals and polar bears are explored — either as part of global regimes of international environmental governance or as regimes that were specifically designed for them. The book concludes with outlooks on the future of international marine mammal law, particularly in light of Japan’s withdrawal from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in July 2019.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction (ALWTR) plan to protect endangered large whales from entanglements in commercial fishing gear, which can cause injury or death. Because whales continued to die after the ALWTF plan went into effect, NMFS proposed revisions in 2005. The author of this book discusses these issues, as well as the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which requires the NMFS to establish take reductions teams for certain marine mammals to develop measures to reduce their incidental takes. Other bills that specifically address marine mammal regulatory and management issues are examined as well. Furthermore, while some of these issues can be addressed administratively, in regulations proposed and promulgated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, others likely would require statutory change. This book lays out the range of issues likely to be raised during reauthorization debate, the reasons behind them, and possible proposals that could be offered to address these concerns. This book consists of public domain documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

Based on author's thesis (doctoral - University of Virginia, 2014)--Verso of title page.

Marine mammal conservation presents a number of challenges for scientists. This work presents an argument about how science, if conducted properly, can provide insights needed to minimise crisis management and implement more anticipatory action.