3 per cent of the global ocean. Christine A. Ward-Paige and Boris Worm, “Global Evaluation of Shark Sanctuaries,” Global Environmental Change 47 (2017): 174–89, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.09.005.
survey of scuba divers’ opinions. Ibid.
Close to three hundred thousand large pelagic sharks were likely caught. Brendan D. Shea et al., “Quantifying Longline Bycatch Mortality for Pelagic Sharks in Western Pacific Shark Sanctuaries,” Science Advances 9, no. 33 (2023): eadg3527, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adg3527.
size of an individual reserve. Median size of marine protected areas globally is 3.3 square kilometres; Central Park in New York is 3.4 square kilometres. Lisa Boonzaier and Daniel Pauly, “Marine Protection Targets: An Updated Assessment of Global Progress,” Oryx 50, no. 1 (2015): 1–9, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0030605315000848.
catches of endangered elasmobranchs. Manfredi Di Lorenzo et al.. “Small-Scale Fisheries Catch More Threatened Elasmobranchs inside Partially Protected Areas than in Unprotected Areas,” Nature Communications 13 (2022): 4381, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32035-3.
2021 study conducted in waters off Florida. Nicholas M. Whitney et al., “Connecting Post-Release Mortality to the Physiological Stress Response of Large Coastal Sharks in a Commercial Longline Fishery,” PLoS One 16, no. 9 (2021): e0255673, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255673.
Sea trials in a small-scale. Philip D. Doherty et al., “Efficacy of a Novel Shark Bycatch Mitigation Device in a Tuna Longline Fishery,” Current Biology 32, no. 22 (2022): R1260–61, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.003.
Illuminating gill nets. Jesse F. Senko et al., “Net Illumination Reduces Fisheries Bycatch, Maintains Catch Value, and Increases Operational Efficiency,” Current Biology 32, no. 4 (2022): 911–18, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.12.050.
Scientists in Hong Kong. Diego Cardeñosa et al., “CITES-Listed Sharks Remain among the Top Species in the Contemporary Fin Trade,” Conservation Letters 11, no. 4 (2018): e12457, https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12457.
A turning point came in 2022. Diego Cardeñosa et al., “Two Thirds of Species in a Global Shark Fin Trade Hub Are Threatened with Extinction: Conservation Potential of International Trade Regulations for Coastal Sharks,” Conservation Letters 15, no. 5 (2022): e12910, https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12910.
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.
