Every year, Endangered Species Day is celebrated around the United States to raise awareness about the importance of protecting and preserving wildlife and plant species that are threatened with extinction. The US Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1972, is one of the strongest laws on the books, but years of under-funding and challenges to the act by polluters, developers, and local and national politicians have weakened some provisions and led to a lack of enforcement.
Under the Biden Administration, environmentalists are hopeful that the ESA will receive much better treatment, with increased funding to better address the protection of endangered species.
Friday, May 21, is Endangered Species Day, and I will be speaking on a panel arranged by Shark Steward’s founder and director David McGuire. The panel includes Kristen Monsell, Center for Biological Diversity; Dr. Robert Rubin, Santa Rosa Junior College; Vince Smith, Blue Endeavors; and Simon Christopher, BluHope (Malaysia).
The webinar will be live on Shark Stewards’ Facebook page at 4 PM PDT/ 7 PM EDT on May 21.
Human activity is causing a mass extinction crisis around the world. Unlike previous extinction events in Earth’s history, the current one is moving much faster.
Over-hunting was a classic cause of depletion of many species, most notably the great whales during the period of modern whaling in the twentieth century. With the decline in whaling, thanks to the work of many organizations, including the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute, many whale species have started to recover and re-inhabit portions of their former range.
Whales increasing in numbers include humpback, blue, bowhead, and gray whales, although in some areas these species are still not recovering well and new hazards (such as periodic die-offs of large numbers of gray whales) remain deeply concerning.
Still, the slaughter of whales by Japan and Norway continues, while many smaller dolphins are the targets of drive fisheries in Taiji, Japan, and the Faroe Islands.
But the biggest impact on whales and dolphins today is the entanglement of these air-breathing animals in fishing nets and fishing lines.
There has been some progress in addressing these entanglement issues. In 1992, the United Nations approved a measure to ban the use of high-seas gill nets longer than two-and-a-half kilometers. IMMP joined many other organizations in this victorious campaign to pressure the United Nations to ban the rapacious high-seas gill nets.
In 1990, IMMP established the dolphin-safe fishing standards for tuna, asking tuna companies to refrain from chasing and netting dolphins to catch tuna. Today, more than 800 tuna companies worldwide have signed the dolphin-safe policy with IMMP, and the dolphin-safe standards govern the use of the Dolphin Safe label in the United States under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Before the dolphin-safe standards, government observers onboard purse seine tuna vessels were reporting 80,000 to 100,000 dolphins being killed in tuna nets in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. The dolphin-safe program has brought these numbers down to a reported 778 killed in 2019. The 778 dolphins were not killed by dolphin-safe vessels but rather were killed by tuna vessels from countries like Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia that continue to chase and net dolphins. Tuna caught by this method cannot carry a Dolphin Safe label in the US and many European countries.
For a list of dolphin-safe tuna companies and more information on the Dolphin Safe label, visit our website.
IMMP’s Philippine office is working to establish protected marine areas for three small populations of Irrawaddy dolphins in that country. The IMMP team has also worked to discourage the killing of dolphins for shark bait in Indonesia and other countries.
There is still a lot to do to reduce the deaths of dolphins and whales around the world and to address global problems such as fishing entanglement, toxic contamination, and global warming that impacts marine life.
The Endangered Species Act has led to the protection, and in some cases, the recovery of many species of whales. Endangered Species Day is a good way for us all to appreciate the progress, and take the next steps to encourage recovery and enjoyment of our wildlife heritage.
We hope you donate to our work to protect whales, dolphins, and their ocean homes. The International Marine Mammal Project is grateful for your support. Thank you!
