Marine Animal Welfare and Aquaculture

Reels:

Sustainable Human – Watching a Dolphin Birth

“Years ago, while we were diving, a male dolphin guided my daughters Rossana and Patrizia, and myself, almost leading us by our hands, and gave us the chance to save a female dolphin who was tangled up in the meshes of a swordfish net. I maintain that his brain waves influenced our minds. What is certain is that our arms were the stretcher by means of which we carried that poor exhausted animal, wracked by contractions, to the surface. As soon as she was on the surface, after breathing out foam and blood, she gave birth to a dolphin calf under the watchful eyes of her mate. The little one was led to his mama’s nipples by gentle strokes of the adult dolphin’s beak. I like to think that on that day we reunited a family.” Enzo Maiorca ended his speech by saying: “Until man learns to respect and speak to the animal world, he can never know his true role on Earth.” ~ Vangelis

Recordings That Made Waves: The Songs That Saved The Whales. In the mid-20th century, whale populations were dwindling. More than 50,000 whales were killed each year by commercial whalers. But then in the 1960s, a song — or rather, many songs — sparked a movement. An album was produced with the goal of “Saving the whales (as the) the issue that we believed would introduce humanity to the idea of ecology and saving nature.” The campaign was a success. Other organizations around the world joined the cause, and in 1982, the International Whaling Commission instituted a ban on deep-sea whaling.

NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the stewardship of the nation’s ocean resources and their habitat. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act

and the Endangered Species Act , it works to recover protected marine species while allowing sustainable economic and recreational opportunities.

States are doing a terrible job enforcing laws meant to protect farmed animals

Here’s a look at the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s efforts to rescue marine mammals entangled in fishing lines and other filaments and ropes. Entanglements are a huge risk to these beautiful animals. Young marine mammals, if entangled, will grow until their necks are literally being choked or their flippers are constricted to the point of disability and death.

In this article by David Shiffman of Nation of Change, Donald Trump’s second term will be bad news for endangered ocean and coastal animals. Meanwhile the planet’s biggest overarching threat—climate change—is expected to worsen under Trump, who ordered the U.S. to leave the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day back in office.