Lost at Sea

Abstract

I t isn’t DIFFICULT TO imagine ways to block the migrations of terrestrial animals such as wildebeest or pronghorn. A sturdy fence will do; a new village or housing development is even better. But the notion that animal migrations in the oceans can also be blocked is more difficult to fathom. People are not building in the sea the way they are building on land. But slowly, surely, and with devastating effect, they are turning the migratory routes of many marine animals into deadly obstacle courses. Moreover, many ocean migrants share with terrestrial migrants the habit of congregating at key breeding, wintering, or stopover sites, which makes them all too easy to hunt. Consequently, for whales, sea turtles, and numerous other migratory species, the “freedom of the seas” is becoming more and more of an illusion as the ocean becomes an increasingly inhospitable environment for migration.