Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues
Integrating welfare principles into conservation strategy is an emerging synthesis that encourages consideration of individual animals’ quality of life in research, policies and law. However, these principles have gained limited traction in marine compared to terrestrial animal conservation. This ma...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/6/1596 |
| _version_ | 1797532228565073920 |
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| author | Isabella L. K. Clegg Rebecca M. Boys Karen A. Stockin |
| author_facet | Isabella L. K. Clegg Rebecca M. Boys Karen A. Stockin |
| author_sort | Isabella L. K. Clegg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Integrating welfare principles into conservation strategy is an emerging synthesis that encourages consideration of individual animals’ quality of life in research, policies and law. However, these principles have gained limited traction in marine compared to terrestrial animal conservation. This manuscript investigates several factors that may be contributing to this disparity. In order to gauge current understanding of animal welfare science principles by marine mammal researchers and other stakeholders, a “Welfare in the Wild” workshop was convened at the 32nd European Cetacean Society conference (La Spezia, Italy, April 2018). The workshop was attended by 30 participants who completed pre- and post-workshop surveys on animal welfare principles. The survey results highlight a range of different views about exactly what animal welfare science is and how it can be applied to marine mammals. Specifically, participants’ definitions appeared to vary depending on the type of employment or research they engaged in, indicating a need for an interdisciplinary common language. Secondly, we analysed the peer-reviewed literature in order to ascertain where marine mammal publications exploring welfare were being published. From 1950 to July 2020, a total of 299 articles featured both marine mammal taxa (one or more) and the word <i>welfare</i> in the title, abstract or keywords. This represents just 0.96% of the total peer-reviewed published papers on marine mammal taxa (<i>n</i> = 31,221) during the same period. When examining articles published within “Welfare and Ethics” (<i>n</i> = 6133) and “Aquatic-focused” (<i>n</i> = 139,352) journals, just 1.2% (<i>n</i> = 71) and 0.04% (<i>n</i> = 57) of articles, respectively, featured the word welfare when examining marine mammals. With the aim of exploring how explicitly including welfare evaluations in marine mammal research and management can benefit conservation outcomes, we framed our workshop and quantitative literature review findings to provide practical solutions to the language, translation and reception issues of this burgeoning cross-disciplinary collaboration. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:56:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f427db7b97624bf882b14b8778e301df |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:56:07Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-f427db7b97624bf882b14b8778e301df2023-11-21T21:54:13ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-05-01116159610.3390/ani11061596Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception IssuesIsabella L. K. Clegg0Rebecca M. Boys1Karen A. Stockin2Animal Welfare Expertise, 18 Melrose Parade, Sydney 2031, AustraliaCetacean Ecology Research Group, School of Natural and Computational Sciences, Massey University, Auckland 0745, New ZealandCetacean Ecology Research Group, School of Natural and Computational Sciences, Massey University, Auckland 0745, New ZealandIntegrating welfare principles into conservation strategy is an emerging synthesis that encourages consideration of individual animals’ quality of life in research, policies and law. However, these principles have gained limited traction in marine compared to terrestrial animal conservation. This manuscript investigates several factors that may be contributing to this disparity. In order to gauge current understanding of animal welfare science principles by marine mammal researchers and other stakeholders, a “Welfare in the Wild” workshop was convened at the 32nd European Cetacean Society conference (La Spezia, Italy, April 2018). The workshop was attended by 30 participants who completed pre- and post-workshop surveys on animal welfare principles. The survey results highlight a range of different views about exactly what animal welfare science is and how it can be applied to marine mammals. Specifically, participants’ definitions appeared to vary depending on the type of employment or research they engaged in, indicating a need for an interdisciplinary common language. Secondly, we analysed the peer-reviewed literature in order to ascertain where marine mammal publications exploring welfare were being published. From 1950 to July 2020, a total of 299 articles featured both marine mammal taxa (one or more) and the word <i>welfare</i> in the title, abstract or keywords. This represents just 0.96% of the total peer-reviewed published papers on marine mammal taxa (<i>n</i> = 31,221) during the same period. When examining articles published within “Welfare and Ethics” (<i>n</i> = 6133) and “Aquatic-focused” (<i>n</i> = 139,352) journals, just 1.2% (<i>n</i> = 71) and 0.04% (<i>n</i> = 57) of articles, respectively, featured the word welfare when examining marine mammals. With the aim of exploring how explicitly including welfare evaluations in marine mammal research and management can benefit conservation outcomes, we framed our workshop and quantitative literature review findings to provide practical solutions to the language, translation and reception issues of this burgeoning cross-disciplinary collaboration.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/6/1596animal welfare scienceconservation biologymarine mammalswild animal welfare |
| spellingShingle | Isabella L. K. Clegg Rebecca M. Boys Karen A. Stockin Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues Animals animal welfare science conservation biology marine mammals wild animal welfare |
| title | Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues |
| title_full | Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues |
| title_fullStr | Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues |
| title_short | Increasing the Awareness of Animal Welfare Science in Marine Mammal Conservation: Addressing Language, Translation and Reception Issues |
| title_sort | increasing the awareness of animal welfare science in marine mammal conservation addressing language translation and reception issues |
| topic | animal welfare science conservation biology marine mammals wild animal welfare |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/6/1596 |
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