Innovative Approaches to Addressing Human Impacts on Marine Mammals

Human activities are now a constant feature of the marine environment and often overlap with areas that are critical for marine mammals. Shipping, fishing, industrial development, tourism, and pollution can affect animals, reduce prey availability, cause injury or death. Marine mammals are also vulnerable to underwater noise, marine debris, and pollutants that accumulate in their bodies and affect their health. Although some species can adjust their behavior or movements in response to disturbance, these pressures frequently exceed their adaptive capacity, leading to population declines and long-term impacts on ecosystems. At the same time, there are examples of successful conservation actions progress, such as the creation of marine protected areas, improved fishing practices, and quieter shipping technologies, which demonstrate that solutions are possible. To ensure the wellbeing of marine mammals, it is critical to continue developing and implementing strategies that effectively reduce and mitigate human impacts.

Marine mammals are exposed to a broad range of human activities that can lead to stress, injury, bycatch, habitat degradation, or changes in behavior and distribution. Despite advances in documenting such impacts, a major challenge is how to move from detection to action. This Research Topic in Frontiers in Mammal Science aims to bring together studies that not only assess human-induced effects but also propose and evaluate concrete management strategies. We invite work that uses innovative monitoring tools to detect impacts, alongside research that develops, tests, or measures the success of mitigation measures. Contributions that link science with policy, management, or successful interventions (e.g., reducing ship strikes, quieter maritime operations, alternative fishing gear) are particularly encouraged. By integrating diverse approaches and case studies, this collection seeks to highlight pathways toward effective and adaptive management of marine mammals and their environment in an ocean with increasing human presence.

This Research Topic will cover innovative approaches to detect, assess, and mitigate human impacts on marine mammals. We welcome contributions addressing:

• Innovative methods for detecting or monitoring human impacts (e.g., PAM, AI, UAVs, eDNA) to quantify human-induced pressures.

• Case studies of management strategies and their effectiveness (e.g., reducing ship strikes, gear modifications, spatial management, quieting technologies).

• Policy and management relevant studies bridging science with regulation or dynamic ocean management.

• Examples of successful interventions and lessons learned.

• Conceptual, methodological, or interdisciplinary frameworks for balancing human activity with marine mammal protection.

We invite Original Research, Methods, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Policy and Practice papers. Submissions offering practical, scalable solutions or cross-sector perspectives are especially encouraged.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Marine mammals; human impact; management; marine conservation;

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.