Dear MARMAMers,

On behalf of my colleagues, I am pleased to announce the publication of our paper. Our motivation was to begin addressing the lack of discourse on ethical and legal issues in whale research. We present the example of scientists collaborating with Icelandic whalers, but acknowledge that there are many more ethical and legal issues in our field and the wider field of biology. We hope that our work may influence policy changes in academic institutions, professional societies and journals.

Our literature review highlights the need for improved ethical guidelines for whale research. A discussion is now needed regarding the ethical and legal assessments of research methods involving whales, particularly for early career researchers. Academic reviewers and editors would benefit from more explicit guidance that addresses the issues in this article when assessing manuscripts for journals or abstracts for conferences.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13880292.2021.1909807

Ryan, C., Papastavrou, V. and Sand, P.H. (2021). Ethical and Legal Considerations for Scientists Collaborating with Whalers: A Case Study of International Research Using the Outcome of Contemporary Whaling by Iceland. Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, 24(1): 1-25.

Best wishes,

Conor Ryan