Marine mammals used in scientific research face welfare challenges that are increasingly recognized and regulated, though significant concerns remain.
Marine mammal research welfare sits at the intersection of scientific necessity and the recognized complexity of these animals' needs. Captive marine mammals in research settings face the same fundamental environmental challenges as those in entertainment - confinement, inability to travel natural distances, disrupted social structures, and acoustic environments dominated by human-generated noise. Research using invasive methods or causing chronic stress requires robust ethical justification. Naval sonar testing that causes physical harm to wild whales - documented through strandings and behavioral disruption - represents a welfare issue of significant scale. The increasing availability of non-invasive research methods including acoustic monitoring, drone observation, and biologging devices provides alternatives that allow research without welfare compromise.