Marine Mammals

Preamble 

Marine mammals referred to by this Policy include all pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, walruses); cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises); dugongs and manatees; sea otters; and polar bears. 

Marine mammals play a key role in habitats as ocean “engineers” cycling nutrients and maintaining healthy ecosystems, and they are enjoyed worldwide as part of a multi-billion-dollar tourism industry. Marine mammals remain vulnerable to extirpation in parts of their ranges and eventually, extinction due to anthropogenic threats. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has determined that approximately 30% of the cetacean (whale and dolphin) species whose populations it has analyzed are considered threatened to critically endangered. Four of the critically endangered species inhabit oceans bordering waters of the U.S., including the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin, North Atlantic Right Whale, Rice’s Whale and the Vaquita (the Gulf of California Harbor Porpoise, the world’s rarest marine mammal with fewer than twenty estimated to be left.) 

 

There are several categories of threats to marine mammals. Best available science demonstrates that acidifying and warming oceans pose an existential threat to marine mammals and their supporting coastal and oceanic ecosystems.1,2,3Increased subsurface noise pollution disrupts marine mammal communication and has other harmful effects. Best available science also demonstrates that some forms of ocean military testing produce powerful noises capable of harming and killing marine mammals and adversely disrupting behavior.4,5 Similarly, the use of sonar for oil exploration is known to harm and kill marine mammals. Offshore oil spills can cause immediate death of marine mammals and damage their supporting ecosystems for decades. Vessel strikes and encounters with the boat props injure and kill marine mammals. Entanglement in buoy ropes connected to fishing traps is a leading cause of death and injury to marine mammals on both the west and east coasts of the U.S. Last, the expanding urban-wildlife interface increasingly brings marine mammals in proximity to humans’ presence, which can affect the behaviors of marine mammals and where harassment has become a concern. 

Marine mammal protections pose policy conflicts. For example, while the Sierra Club has historically opposed hunting and harassment of marine mammals, the Sierra Club firmly supports Tribal sovereignty and treaty rights and respects the stewardship, values, and cultural and spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples. While the Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides exceptions for subsistence hunting of listed marine mammal species by Alaskan Natives, the process still allows the Secretary to regulate the permitted takings so as to prevent a negative effect upon the species. The USFWS regulations also provide similar exemptions from the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). [See Policy Supplement, attached.] 

Another example of policy conflict occurs when protections of some marine mammals, such as seals and sea lions, conflict with the need to protect and manage other listed species, such as endangered runs of Chinook salmon, the preferred prey of the endangered Southern Resident Orcas (another marine mammal). 

In sum, despite the protections offered by key regulations including the MMPA and the ESA, climate crisis impacts such as warming seas, disappearing arctic ice habitat, ocean acidification and other anthropogenic stresses place marine mammals at increased risk. These global-scale realities combined with the cumulative impacts from more site-specific threats, such as marine pollution, seafood overexploitation or harmful fishing practices (e.g., bycatch, entanglement), seismic testing by the military and others, offshore oil drilling, wind farm construction, and vessel strikes, all result in the need for further protections for marine mammals. 

As part of its mission to protect the species and habitats that we enjoy and share with this planet, the Sierra Club promotes the conservation of marine mammals and their habitats and supports the following measures to protect all marine mammals: 

Measures regarding Direct Harvest and Take 

1 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-3/ 

2 https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/climate-change-poses-threat-our-oceans 

3 https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2019/04/other-carbon-dioxide-problem 

4 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-military-sonar-kill/ 

5 https://www.orcanetwork.org/action-advocacy/blog-post-title-one-9c996 

 

1. We oppose all sport hunting of marine mammals. 

2. We support a total ban of all commercial whaling. 

3. We support the moratorium on taking and importing marine mammals established by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 as amended and support effective enforcement of its provisions. 

4. We support the development and implementation of fishing practices and gear that prevent injury and death of marine mammals incidentally entangled or otherwise harmed in fishing nets or buoy ropes. 

5. We oppose the wild capture and captive breeding of marine mammals for the purposes of entertainment. 

6. We oppose harvesting of any marine mammal species designated critically endangered by the IUCN. 

7. We recognize that cetaceans have social units and that harms to these from takes should be evaluated and avoided even where not specifically addressed by existing legal protections. 

Measures regarding Indigenous use of Marine Mammals 

8. We support the right of Indigenous peoples and Tribal nations to take marine mammals that are integral to their diet and culture, including for ceremonial, spiritual, subsistence, and other traditional uses that are reserved by treaty or recognized by law, and consistent with applicable protections required by law. 

9. We encourage each such harvested animal to be fully utilized and not traded commercially or applied to a quota used by a non-tribal entity. 

Measures regarding Marine Mammal Habitat Protection 

10. We oppose ocean mining and offshore oil exploration and drilling in known marine mammal migratory corridors and feeding and birthing grounds. 

11. We support the development and use of noise mitigation methods during wind farm construction, such as bubble curtains. 

12. We oppose military testing that produces disruptive noises affecting marine mammal habitats including key migratory pathways, feeding grounds, and birthing grounds. Where such testing occurs with the oversight of on-board marine mammal observers to enforce regulatory protections, we support only government enforcement agents or independent third-party observers that report directly to enforcement agencies and have the official authority to implement actions for compliance in accordance with all applicable regulations and permits. 

13. We support vessel speed limits and boating exclusion areas to reduce strikes on whales and manatees. 

14. We support additional measures to protect whales during whale migration periods and other times when whales may be present, including (a) a network of acoustic monitoring buoys for ports and shipping channels, (b) drones over shipping lanes for spotting whales, where appropriate, and 

 

(c) the development of a real-time marine mammal alert system for vessels and the US Coast Guard. 

15. We support the designation of critical habitat for all listed marine mammals and the protection of feeding grounds and calving areas for marine mammals. 

16. We oppose the unsustainable reduction of all forms of sea life that comprise the base of oceanic food webs and thereby contribute to essential sustenance for marine mammals. This includes opposition to industrial-scale harvesting of krill and menhaden reduction fishing. 

17. We support the need to improve water quality by reducing point and nonpoint nutrient discharges that contribute to algae blooms that impact marine mammal foraging habitat, such as seagrass beds which are critical habitats for manatees, or which produce toxins. 

18. We support the reduction of plastics in the environment specifically to protect the marine food chain and marine mammals. 

19. We support habitat restoration such as restoring grass beds for manatees and kelp forest for sea otters. 

Measures regarding Co-Existence and Population Enhancement 

20. We support substantive means to reduce threats to marine mammals, including but not limited to those of ocean warming and acidification, via robust research, climate action, habitat and ocean life restoration, and other mitigation such as the restoration of prey populations. 

21. We support efforts to enhance the wellbeing and survival of individual marine mammals, including efforts to minimize negative impacts to behavior and reproductive viability. Such efforts may include wildlife rehabilitation, translocation, disentanglement, and emergency feeding due to habitat disruption. 

22. We support responsible, low impact tourism that seeks to passively enjoy the presence of marine mammals and promotes protection and stewardship of marine species (and their habitats) while avoiding harassment or disruption of their behaviors. 

23. We support management strategies based upon peaceful coexistence and elimination of harassment, including effective enforcement and education by government agencies where necessary. If management conflicts arise between two species, we may make a case-by-case assessment, as marine mammal populations vary in their respective degrees of endangerment. 

24. We encourage collaboration with other affected parties, such as the recreational and commercial fishing industries, to develop and deploy solutions that ensure mutual long-term interests, such as long-term support for whale populations whose digestive waste, excreted at the ocean’s surface, adds to the nutrient base of the food chain that leads to the long-term health of fish populations. 

 

Adopted by the Board of Directors, February 5-6, 1972; amended December 7-8, 1974, November 5-6, 1977, February 2-3, 1980, and July 8, 1995; amended November 16, 2023