Threats to

Marine
Mammals and
Mitigation of
the Effect

1.) Commercial hunting

-hunting of marine mammals for economic
gain (i.e. whale meat)

2.) Open net fishing

- incidental take of marine mammals;
entanglement in discarded fishing gears (i.e.
Common dolphin, Hawaiian monk seal)

3.) Tourism
- marine mammals are slaughtered in the
name of novelty trinkets (i.e. Walrus tusks, fur
of seals)

4) Habitat loss
- result of pollution, changes in
ecosystems, ship traffic, and a number of
human related problems (i.e. oil spill)

5.) Entertainment and

Captivity
- marine mammals are forced into captivity for
entertainment purposes (i.e. Orca)

6.) Climate change

- increase of water temperature
- melting of polar ice caps

7.) Agricultural runof

- excess nitrogen from fertilizer can spawn
massive algae blooms (i.e. Beluga whales)

8.) Ship strikes

- high speed ships hit marine mammals
accidentally (i.e. North Atlantic Right Whale)

9.) Fisheries
- decline in forage fish because of commercial
fishing (i.e. Alaskan pinniped populations)

10.) Acoustic pollution

- addition of loud noises from ships, sonar, drilling
rigs, and other human sources can distort messages
sent by marine mammals