Abstract: Marine mammals are regarded in high esteem
by the general public, and are recognized as flagship
species for conservation, while at the same time they suffer
from anthropogenic impacts on a global scale, and often in
extreme ways. It seems there is a huge discrepancy between
how we humans think about our fellow creatures in the sea,
and how we behave to impact and/or conserve them. Here, I
examine why the purely scientific and thus intellectual
approach to marine mammal conservation has had limited
success over the past decades. While there are some obvious
success stories in cetacean conservation, the situation
today is, for many species and populations, more dire than
it has ever been. The idea of ‘we need to know more’—a credo
of the scientific community—often is politically
misrepresented to postpone necessary conservation decisions.
To adapt our path towards more profound and, importantly,
more effective marine conservation, as conservationists we
need to go deeper and change the narrative of separation,
i.e., the concept of humans being set apart from the rest of
nature. Instead, there is a need to create a narrative of
connectedness, i.e., the consciousness of humans being an
integral part of the planetary system. Rather than telling
horror stories about the plight of marine mammals,
conservationists also need to trigger positive emotions
about them in ourselves. More holistic aspects of
conservation need to be incorporated in our future efforts,
including the fuller integration of traditional knowledge
and indigenous wisdom, recognizing ecosystem functions of
marine life and protecting the processes they sustain,
respecting ‘holiness’ of nature while focusing on the
animals’ individuality, personhood and the cultural identity
of distinct cetacean communities. Effective marine mammal
conservation will be possible only on the basis of a
profound change of our own values and a fundamental change
of the societal system(s) we are living in.