Book reviews / J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 248 (2000) 255 –259 257
height, this is a historic document that also contains some potentially timeless gems – and so I recommend it. Make sure your library has a copy.
C.R. German
Southampton Oceanography Centre Empress Dock Southampton SO14 3ZH
UK
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Conservation and Management Marine Mammals
edited by J.E. Twiss Jr. and R.R. Reeves; Smithsonian Institution Press, Washing-ton; 1999; 471 pp.; GBP 35.95, US$ 60.00; ISBN 1-56098-778-2
This book, together with its companion volume Biology of Marine Mammals, was written with the objective of providing a textbook for students and academics wanting to teach marine mammalogy. While ‘‘Biology . . . ’’ gives a general overview of topics such as physiology, reproduction, feeding ecology, etc., ‘‘Conservation . . . ’’ deals with the legislation, policies and issues relating to the protection of marine mammals.
Conservation and Management of Marine Mammals is divided into 20 chapters
grouped around the following topics: legislation, Conflicts between Marine Mammals
and Fisheries, International Institutions and Approaches, and Case Studies of
En-dangered Species. Following these sections the book has also individual chapters on Marine Debris Pollution, Marine Mammal Die-Offs, Marine Mammal Stranding
Networks, and Marine Mammals in Captivity. The last chapter deals with guiding
principles for conservation of marine mammals and how they can be implemented. The first part of the book, on legislation and related topics, starts with a chapter covering the changes that public attitudes (in North America) towards marine mammals have gone through. The second chapter explains the Laws Governing Marine Mammal
Conservation in (again) the United States. This is perhaps the most arid part of the book,
consisting of an in-depth description of the legislation governing marine mammals with particular emphasis on the Marine Mammal Protection Act. While knowledge of the laws is definitively important for any student and / or researcher working on marine mammals, what I found particularly interesting (and worrying) was the exercise done by the authors in comparing the trends for research and research funding over the last 20 years in the USA. While the number of people working in the field and the number of publications have more than doubled, the amount of money spent to support research has ‘‘remained virtually unchanged’’. This section of the book includes also a chapter on Ecosystems:
258 Book reviews / J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 248 (2000) 255 –259
chapters) explains the central concept of the ecosystem and the need for research and protection with this global point of view in mind.
The second part of the book, Conflicts between Marine Mammals and Fisheries, is divided into three chapters. The first one, Marine Mammal Interactions with Fisheries, explains the types of interactions (operational and biological, direct and indirect, etc.) and also provides an historical overview of the efforts to reduce their impact. Examples of interactions are given in this chapter (e.g. the large-scale high-seas driftnet fisheries, the harbour porpoise mortality in the Gulf of Maine gillnet fishery) and in the other two chapters (The Tuna –Dolphin Controversy and Seal, Sea lions and Salmon in the Pacific
Northwest). Of all these case studies, the predation of salmon by sea lions at the Ballard
ship locks in Seattle, where only a small number of sea lions (around 60) were involved, provided an eye-opening example of the complications, the effort, the time, the money spent (in a decade, approximately US $3 million) and the legal implications of this kind of conflict.
The third section of the book, International Institutions and Approaches, includes two chapters, The International Whaling Commission and the Contemporary Whaling Debate and The Antarctic Treaty System. Both chapters provide a good review of the history of the respective organisations, including an honest account of the early failings of the International Whaling Commission.
The fourth section of the book deals with Case Studies of Endangered Species. The first two chapters review the biology and management of the Hawaiian Monk Seal. The authors provide much detail on the status of the seals at each of the main haul-out sites, the agencies and organisations involved in the monk seal management and ‘‘the nature of bureaucracies’’. They also are brave enough to provide recommendations on ‘‘what else can be attempted to save the species from extinction’’. A similar approach (description of the biology and behaviour of a species, followed by a summary of the protective measures and the research done to identify new threats) is taken by the authors of the following chapters: Efforts to Conserve the Manatees, Selected examples
of Small Cetaceans at Risk, and Efforts to Conserve the North Atlantic Right Whale. Of
all these case studies, perhaps the descriptions of the situation of the vaquita and the baiji are the ones causing more concern, with conservation efforts being hampered by poor economies and the impossibility of implementing and enforcing legal measures. This section finishes in chapter 15, Endangered Species: The Common Denominator, in which the common denominator of the title is actually our own species. The author, a palaeontologist, tries (not very successfully in my opinion) to give a philosophical and ethical point of view to the subject of extinction and conservation.
Marine Debris Pollution, one of the ‘stand-alone’ chapters, has a particularly sobering
Book reviews / J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 248 (2000) 255 –259 259
to mitigate and reduce the scale of the problem, thanks in part to public awareness and involvement.
The next three chapters are Marine Mammal Die-Offs: Causes, Investigations and
Issues, Marine Mammal Stranding Networks, and Marine Mammals in Captivity. The first two chapters both deal with strandings and the opportunities for research provided by samples obtained in this way. I like very much the way the authors of Marine
Mammals in Captivity presented this controversial topic. They addressed, one by one,
the arguments used to justify this practice but also the ones used to condemn it, giving the reader all the information to make up his / her own mind on this issue.
Finally, in the last chapter, Marine Mammal Conservation: Guiding Principles and
Their Implementation, the authors offer as a summary five ‘‘principles for the
conservation of wild living resources’’ and actions to help implement them.
Although my overall impression of the book is positive, I have to make a criticism. I would have liked to see some sections dedicated to management and conservation outside the USA, particularly in European countries, where there has also been much effort put into protecting marine mammals. I understand that the main aim of the book was to serve as a textbook for students but hopefully not only for American ones!
´ M.B. Santos Vazquez
Zoology Department Aberdeen University Tillydrone Avenue Aberdeen AB24 2TZ
UK
