Summary: | In 2015, an online survey was conducted to investigate public attitudes toward key cetacean (whale, dolphin, and porpoise) conservation and 'hot topic' issues such as legislative protection, whaling, and captivity (n=858). Importance of the use of social media by scientists and conservationists and its accuracy was also addressed. When given a list of whale and dolphin species, 24.01% participants thought the blue whale was the most endangered, 22.14% thought it was the humpback whale, and 23.43% stated the killer whale. Additionally, participants were also asked which species listed was the most important to conserve: 39.74% indicating the bottlenose dolphin was the most important. Only 6.29% highlighted the most endangered cetacean (the Vaquita or Gulf of California harbor porpoise) and 5.01% noted the endangered North Atlantic right whale. More members of the public highlighted non-existent (fake) species as being of conservation concern than certain species of genuine concern (e.g. Pygmy short-fined whale, Lumpheaded dolphin, and Majestic spotted dolphin). The majority of participants considered dolphins and whales to be "under protected" or only "slightly protected" (29.95%; 41.96%, respectively) and expressed that marine mammal conservation laws and policies were "very important" or "important" (47.43%; and 37.88%, respectively). In addition, 86.83% of participants expressed opposition to the hunting of dolphins and whales (57.93% "strongly opposed" and 28.90% "opposed"); however, only 47.44% of participants were aware that several countries are still involved in whaling. Participants were divided on opposition or support of dolphins and whales in marine parks and aquariums (54.43%; 45.57% respectively). But 86.01% or 6 times as many members of the public preferred to view cetaceans in the wild via-whale watching than in captivity, and a majority noted that cetaceans should only be kept in captivity when dolphins are sick or injured, for conducting research relevant to dolphin conservation in the wild, and ...
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