Less than 10 per cent. Colin A. Simpfendorfer and Nicholas K. Dulvy, “Bright Spots of Sustainable Shark Fishing,” Current Biology 27, no. 3 (2017): R83–102, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.017.

A 2023 study of shark fisheries. Nathan Pacoureau et al., “Conservation Successes and Challenges for Wide-Ranging Sharks and Rays,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120, no. 5 (2023): e2216891120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2216891120.

CHAPTER 5

A necropsy revealed. The concentration of PCBs in Lulu’s body was 950 milligrams per kilogram of lipid; the threshold for severe impairment of marine mammals is around 40 milligrams per kilogram of lipid. Jean-Pierre Desforges et al., “Predicting Global Killer Whale Population Collapse from PCB Pollution,” Science 361, no. 6409 (2018): 1373–76, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1953.

A recent study found that grandmothers. Charli Grimes et al., “Post-reproductive Female Killer Whales Reduce Socially Inflicted Injuries in Their Male Offspring,” Current Biology 33, no. 15 (2023): 3250–56, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.039.

In 1968, in the journal Nature. R. W. Risebrough et al., “Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Global Ecosystem,” Nature 220 (1968): 1098–1102, https://doi.org/10.1038/2201098a0.

In the extreme depths of the Mariana Trench. Alan J. Jamieson et al., “Bioaccumulation of Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Deepest Ocean Fauna,” Nature Ecology and Evolution 1 (2017): 0051, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0051.

For decades, California sea lions. Frances M. D. Gulland et al., “Persistent Contaminants and Herpesvirus OtHV1 Are Positively Associated with Cancer in Wild California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus),” Frontiers in Marine Science 7 (2020), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.602565.

Around Iceland, orcas. Anaïs Remili et al., “Individual Prey Specialization Drives PCBs in Icelandic Killer Whales,” Environmental Science and Technology 55, no. 8 (2021): 4923–31, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c08563.

a group of scientists simulated. Jean-Pierre Desforges et al., “Predicting Global Killer Whale Population Collapse from PCB Pollution,” Science 361, no. 6409 (2018): 1373–76, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1953.

The model predicted. There have been several rebuttals to the 2018 study; see ibid., eLetters. Some other orca experts think the model is too simplistic and the conclusions too sweeping. Some argued that if the models’ assumptions were indeed realistic, orca populations would have already disappeared at the height of PCB production in the 1970s, which thankfully didn’t happen.

A study in the United States revealed. David Q. Andrews and Olga V. Naidenko, “Population-Wide Exposure to Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances from Drinking Water in the United States,” Environmental Science and Technology Letters 7, no. 12 (2020): 931–36, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00713.

legal battle by US lawyer Robert Bilott. Nathaniel Rich, “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” New York Times Magazine, January 6, 2016.

hid the findings of their studies. Tom Perkins, “Chemical Giants Hid Dangers of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Food Packaging,” Guardian (UK), May 12, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/12/chemical-giants-hid-dangers-pfas-forever-chemicals-food-packaging-dupont.

excluding thousands of substances that won’t be regulated. Tom Perkins, “EPA’s New Definition of PFAS Could Omit Thousands of ‘Forever Chemicals,’” Guardian (UK), August 28, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/18/epa-new-definition-pfas-forever-chemicals.

In 2001, General Electric was forced to pay to dredge New York’s Hudson River. Jane Martinson, “GE Hit with $450m Toxic Clean-Up Charge,” Guardian (UK), August 1, 2001, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2001/aug/02/3.

Pollutants in the bodies of striped dolphins. Paul D. Jepson et al., “PCB Pollution Continues to Impact Populations of Orcas and Other Dolphins in European Waters,” Scientific Reports 6 (2016): 18573, doi:10.1038/srep18573.

The Franciscana dolphin. Rosalinda C. Montone et al., “Temporal Trends of Persistent Organic Pollutant Contamination in Franciscana Dolphins from the Southwestern Atlantic,” Environmental Research 216, pt. 1 (2023): 114473, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114473.

Levels of PCBs in ringed and grey seals. Karl Mauritsson et al., “Maternal Transfer and Long-Term Population Effects of PCBs in Baltic Grey Seals Using a New Toxicokinetic-Toxicodynamic Population Model,” Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 83 (2022): 376394, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-022-00962-3; Thorsten B. H. Reusch et al., “The Baltic Sea as a Time Machine for the Future Coastal Ocean,” Science Advances 4, no. 5 (2018): eaar8195.

Recent estimates indicate. Markus Eriksen et al., “A Growing Plastic Smog, Now Estimated to Be Over 170 Trillion Plastic Particles Afloat in the World’s Oceans—Urgent Solutions Required,” PLoS One 18, no. 3 (2023): e0281596, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281596.

A 2022 study calculated. Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport et al., “Field Measurements Reveal Exposure Risk to Microplastic Ingestion by Filter-Feeding Megafauna,” Nature Communications 13 (2022): 6327, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33334-5.

The orcas’ bodies are contaminated. Kiah Lee et al., “Emerging Contaminants and New POPs (PFAS and HBCDD) in Endangered Southern Resident and Bigg’s (Transient) Killer Whales (Orcinus orca): In Utero Maternal Transfer and Pollution Management Implications,” Environmental Science and Technology 57, no. 1 (2023): 360−74, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c04126.

Trials of voluntary reduced speeds. Rianna E. Burnham et al., “The Efficacy of Management Measures to Reduce Vessel Noise in Critical Habitat of Southern Resident Killer Whales in the Salish Sea,” Frontiers in Marine Science 8 (2021), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.664691.

When ships passing through are slower. Rob Williams et al., “Reducing Vessel Noise Increases Foraging in Endangered Killer Whales,” Marine Pollution Bulletin 173, pt. A (2021): 112976, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112976.

The film triggered public outcry. Laure Boissat et al., “Nature Documentaries as Catalysts for Change: Mapping Out the ‘Blackfish Effect,’” People and Nature 3, no. 6 (2021): 1179–92, https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10221.

Among the most passionate advocates. Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris and Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley, “One Stolen Whale, the Web of Life, and Our Collective Healing,” Fix/Grist, October 28, 2021, https://grist.org/fix/opinion/lummi-nation-southern-resident-killer-whale-salish-sea-return/.

scientists have tested their bodies. Joseph G. Schnitzler et al., “Supporting Evidence for PCB Pollution Threatening Global Killer Whale Population,” Aquatic Toxicology 206 (2019): 102–4, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2018.11.008.

Dozens of sailors have reported. Ruth Esteban et al., “Killer Whales of the Strait of Gibraltar, an Endangered Subpopulation Showing a Disruptive Behavior,” Marine Mammal Science 38, no. 4 (2022): 1699–1709, doi:10.1111/mms.12947.

CHAPTER 6

Over the course of fifteen years. Lynn Waterhouse et al., “Recovery of Critically Endangered Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus) in the Cayman Islands Following Targeted Conservation Actions,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 3 (2020): 1587–95, https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1917132117.

prevent at least one black deed. Laurence M. Huey, “Past and Present Status of the Northern Elephant Seal with a Note on the Guadalupe Fur Seal,” Journal of Mammalogy 11 (1930): 188–194, https://doi.org/10.2307/1374066.

fished as long ago as the Stone Age. Adam J. Andrews et al., “Exploitation History of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean—Insights from Ancient Bones,” ICES Journal of Marine Science 79, no. 2 (2022): 247–62, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab261.

ICCAT soon earned. Anjali Nayar, “Bad News for Tuna Is Bad News for CITES,” Nature, March 23, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2010.139.

Off the west coast of Ireland. Thomas W. Horton et al., “Evidence of Increased Occurrence of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in Territorial Waters of the United Kingdom and Ireland,” ICES Journal of Marine Science 78, no. 5 (2021): 1672–83, doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsab039.

Bluefin tuna are also coming back. Leif Nøttestad et al., “The Comeback of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) to Norwegian Waters,” Fisheries Research 231 (2020): 105689, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2020.105689.

the species was moved off the Red List. The IUCN’s 2021 text on the global population of Atlantic bluefin tuna concludes that “no change or an overall increase in the global population is probably most representative of the global status of the species.” Bruce B. Collette et al., “Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus,” IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2021): e.T21860A46913402, https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/21860/46913402.

They’ve also recently been seen for the first time. Brian R. MacKenzie et al., “A Cascade of Warming Impacts Brings Bluefin Tuna to Greenland Waters,” Global Change Biology 20, no. 8 (2014): 2484–91, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12597.

A short while after the vote. Karen McVeigh, “Revealed: Most of EU Delegation to Crucial Fishing Talks Made Up of Fishery Lobbyists,” Guardian (UK), April 26, 2023.

in 2020 scientists celebrated. Susannah V. Calderan et al., “South Georgia Blue Whales Five Decades after the End of Whaling,” Endangered Species Research 43 (2020): 359–73, https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01077.

CHAPTER 7

Scientists from the University of York. Ruth H. Thurstan and Callum M. Roberts, “Ecological Meltdown in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland: Two Centuries of Change in a Coastal Marine Ecosystem,” PLoS One 5, no. 7 (2010): e11767, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011767.

**st page

In 1995, the pair set up. Bryce D. Stewart et al., “Marine Conservation Begins at Home: How a Local Community and Protection of a Small Bay Sent Waves of Change around the UK and Beyond,” Frontiers in Marine Science 7 (2020), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00076.

In 2019, scientists sent an autonomous. Veerle A. I. Huvenne and B. Thornton, RRS Discovery Cruise DY108–109, 6 Sept–2 Oct 2019: CLASS—Climate-Linked Atlantic System Science Darwin Mounds Marine Protected Area Habitat Monitoring, BioCAM—First Equipment Trials, BLT—Recipes: Pilot Study, National Oceanography Centre Cruise Report 66 (Southampton, UK: National Oceanography Centre, 2020), https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526682/.

Setting up the protected area in 2017. Cassandra M. Brooks et al., “Reaching Consensus for Conserving the Global Commons: The Case of the Ross Sea, Antarctica,” Conservation Letters 13, no. 1 (2020): e12676, https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12676.

more spiny lobsters. Hunter S. Lenihan et al., “Increasing Spillover Enhances Southern California Spiny Lobster Catch along Marine Reserve Borders,” Ecosphere 13, no. 6 (2022): e4110, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4110.

In Aotearoa, the effect. Zoe Qu et al., “Economic Valuation of the Snapper Recruitment Effect from a Well-Established Temperate No-Take Marine Reserve on Adjacent Fisheries,” Marine Policy 134 (2021): 104792, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104792.

scientists analysed catch data. Sarah Medoff et al., “Spillover Benefits from the World’s Largest Fully Protected MPA,” Science 378, no. 6617 (2022): 313–16, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn0098.

system to track the right whales. Derek P. Tittensor et al., “Integrating Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity Conservation in the Global Ocean,” Science Advances 5, no. 11 (2019): eaay9969, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay9969.

by 2016, the pink corals. Emma V. Sheehan et al., “Rewilding of Protected Areas Enhances Resilience of Marine Ecosystems to Extreme Climatic Events,” Frontiers in Marine Science 8 (2021): 671427, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.671427.