About this Research Topic

Background

Marine mammals have been valued for millennia for their cultural significance and more often, their exploitative resource value. Many large whale species remain imperilled or are only recently returning from the brink of extinction. In contrast, recent conservation measures have allowed for the successful rebound and recovery of many cetaceans and pinniped species, some to the point of perceived “overabundance”, whether referring to 1,200 Hawaiian monk seals or 7 million harp seals. In addition to their continued intrinsic value alive and thriving, today we also appreciate the value of marine mammal species to ecosystem health. Yet, as we grapple with a lack of historical baselines, and uncertain ecological and social carrying capacities, several conflicts are emerging at the growing interface between humans and marine mammals. These conflicts include ship strikes, depredation, bycatch, impacts of ecotourism, competition for resources, changing cultural values and political challenges to marine mammal conservation. Despite the emergence of theory and application of human dimensions of wildlife in the terrestrial realm, the rebound of marine mammals and how we address these conflicts in the coastal and ocean environment are often overlooked when discussing human-wildlife conflict issues and solutions. This Research Topic aims to increase awareness of these issues to advance the discussion on how we can address these challenges in ocean systems.

Conflicts with rebounding populations of marine mammals have emerged across diverse ecological, sociological, economic, and political contexts. Conflicts often arise from assessing how marine mammals fit into the human world based on the baseline understanding of one's own personal experiences or specific community contexts, rather than broader and complex ecosystems understanding or historical context. How do we address these emerging, complex socio-ecological problems related to marine mammals? Who defines the problems, and how are the problems defined? How do we consider often-opposing values and interests in the development of solutions, and how do we engage diverse stakeholders in decision-making processes that shape how we will manage and coexist with marine mammal populations for generations to come? How can different disciplines help build the knowledge foundation and strategies necessary to address these challenges?

This Research Topic welcomes case studies, original research, methods, perspectives, reviews, and policy briefs, on themes such as:

• Case studies of rebounding marine mammals from around the world.

• Examples of community outreach, education, and engagement related to rebounding populations.

• Human dimensions of wildlife research studies, which specifically address the ocean system or the lack of human dimensions research on marine species and their interactions with humans.

• Ecological studies, which quantify the impact of growing marine mammal populations or estimate ecological carrying capacity.

• Sociological studies, which consider differing stakeholder values, the social carrying capacity of marine mammals, and how increasing human populations are a factor in these conflicts.

• Marine policy, politics, and economic analyses, such as evaluation of how resources are distributed for marine mammal management.

• Studies of the impacts of current politics, policy and management on marine mammals.

• Environmental ethics studies, for example, of moral obligations to exploited populations of marine mammals.

Keywords: recovery, recolonization, marine mammals, pinnipeds, human-wildlife conflict

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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