Wild dolphins face growing threats from bycatch, plastic pollution, noise pollution, and boat strikes. Understanding dolphin welfare science reveals how profoundly modern ocean conditions affect their wellbeing.
Wild dolphin welfare is threatened by a cascade of human-caused stressors that compound each other in ways we are only beginning to measure. Noise pollution is particularly insidious: dolphins depend on sound for prey detection, communication, and navigation, and anthropogenic noise degrades all three. Chronic noise stress elevates glucocorticoids and suppresses immune function. Bycatch entanglement causes drowning or severe injury. Boat harassment disrupts rest, nursing, and social bonding — activities as essential to dolphin welfare as feeding. Plastic pollution contributes to entanglement and ingestion of toxins that accumulate in the food chain. Addressing wild dolphin welfare requires systemic approaches: fishing gear modification, speed restrictions in dolphin habitats, and noise pollution regulation.