Marine mammals are afforded unique legislative protection in the United States, via the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972, and overall, this legislation has been fairly effective at protecting marine mammal populations in the United States. Human-caused mortality, however, remains a significant concern for some marine mammal populations.

Dr. Sayigh will discuss several examples for which the levels of mortality and injury exceed limits set under the MMPA, including the North Atlantic right whale, the Florida manatee, and the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. She will also describe her own research on photo-identification of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, which illustrates the sources of mortality and injury to which these dolphins are exposed. This research highlights the complexities involved in defining, and thus protecting, individual stocks of marine mammals.