Marine Mammal Welfare Human Induced Change in the Marine Environment and its Impacts on Marine Mammal Welfare

1. Introduction
2. Anthropogenic Ocean Change: The Consummate Threat to Marine Mammal Welfare
3. Of Poisons and Plastics: An Overview of the Latest Pollution Issues Affecting Marine Mammals
4. Welfare Implications of Cetacean Bycatch and Entanglements
5. From Hunting to Watching: Human Interactions with Cetaceans
6. Welfare Issues Associated with Small Toothed Whale Hunts: An Example, the ‘Drive Hunt’ in Taiji, Japan
7. Din of the Deep: Noise in the Ocean and Its Impacts on Cetaceans
8. Evaluating the Welfare Implications of Climate Change for Cetaceans
9. Managing the Welfare of Marine Mammals at Mass Strandings in Golden Bay, New Zealand
10. Social Change in Cetacean Populations Resulting from Human Influences
11. Cetaceans in Captivity
12. Assessing the Welfare of Cetacea
13. The Welfare Impact on Pinnipeds of Marine Debris and Fisheries
14. Loss of Habitat: Impacts on Pinnipeds and Their Welfare
15. Welfare Aspects of Commercial Hunting and Climate Change
16. Assessing the Welfare of Pinnipeds
17. Human Interactions with Sirenians (Manatees and Dugongs)
18. Impacts of Marine Debris and Fisheries on Sirenians
19. Impact of Climate Change and Loss of Habitat on Sirenians
20. Sirenian Health and Well-Being in Managed Care
21. Assessing Welfare of Individual Sirenians in the Wild and in Captivity
22. Human–Polar Bear Interactions in a Changing Arctic: Existing and Emerging Concerns
23. Polar Bears and Sea Ice Habitat Change
24. Implications of Rapid Environmental Change for Polar Bear Behavior and Sociality
25. Uncertainties in Forecasting the Response of Polar Bears to Global Climate Change
26. The Harvest of Polar Bears Across the Circumpolar North
27. Welfare of Captive Polar Bears and Their Value to In Situ Conservation Efforts
28. Monitoring the Welfare of Polar Bear Populations in a Rapidly Changing Arctic
29. Effects on Otters of Pollution, Fisheries Equipment and Water-Borne Debris
30. Otters in Captivity
31. Pathology of Marine Mammals: What It Can Tell Us About Environment and Welfare
32. Epilogue

Marine mammals attract human interest – sometimes this interest is benign or positive – whale watching, conservation programmes for whales, seals, otters, and efforts to clear beaches of marine debris are seen as proactive steps to support these animals. However, there are many forces operating to affect adversely the lives of whales, seals, manatees, otters and polar bears – and this book explores how the welfare of marine mammals has been affected and how they have adapted, moved, responded and sometimes suffered as a result of the changing marine and human world around them. Marine mammal welfare addresses the welfare effects of marine debris, of human traffic in the oceans, of noise, of hunting, of whale watching and tourism, and of some of the less obvious impacts on marine mammals – on their social structures, on their behaviours and migration, and also of the effects on captivity for animals kept in zoos and aquaria. There is much to think and talk about – how marine mammals respond in a world dramatically influenced by man, how are their social structures affected and how is their welfare impacted?