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September 20, 2006: Outraged dolphin defenders gathered in front of the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. to protest the brutal and unnecessary slaughter of many 1,000's of dolphins every year by Japanese drive fisheries.  Similar protests took place at 12 noon around the world.

August 16, 2006: The National Marine Fisheries Service Issues Two Letters of Authorization to US Navy for use of Low Frequency Active Sonar.

July 17, 2006: The House of Representatives today approved the highly anticipated bill to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972 to protect marine mammal species at risk of depletion.  The bill was introduced by Rep. Pombo and contained provisions that would weaken the protections afforded by the Act.  The final version of the bill still contains some damaging changes, some unexpected improvements were made just before the bill's passage.

May 31, 2006:  Today, conservation and animal welfare groups from Florida and around the nation, including the Animal Welfare Institute, announced they were filing a legal petition with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) urging the state to revise its imperiled species classification system.

April 2006: Ahead of this year's International Whaling Commission meeting, AWI is concerned that the U.S.' once staunch anti-whaling position is wavering.  This concern was heightened by our observations at a recent intercessional meeting where the U.S. stated that a resumption of commercial whaling was acceptable in exchange for a reduction of 'scientific whaling' conducted by Japan.  The U.S. also offered at the meeting to broker a deal with Japan.  We wrote Dr. William Hogarth, Head of the U.S. Delegation to the IWC, and requested that the U.S. address our concerns.  Read Dr. Hogarth's response.

February 22, 2006: The National Marine Fisheries Service plans to issue permits for various research projects on Steller sea lions.  The stated purpose of the research is to promote the recovery of the species as the western population is endangered and the eastern population is threatened.  Sadly the research will result in dozens of mortalities, thousands of animals being caught, branded and subjected to invasive studies, while others will be subjected to starvation studies.  AWI's comment letter to NMFS questions the need for such brutal research and urges compliance with the Animal Welfare Act which mandates that alternatives to reduce the suffering be considered and also that research protocols be subject to responsible Institutional Committee review.

January 27, 2006: A new law was introduced in Mexico that bans the import, export and re-export of marine mammals and primates in Mexico.  This wonderful achievement took three years of hard work by a few dedicated individuals and will save the lives of many thousands of animals.

January 9, 2006: AWI and eleven other groups join forces in urging the US Government to issue an emergency rule requiring the establishment and maintenance of updated disaster response plans by all captive marine mammal facilities in the United States.  This follows the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the US Gulf Coast and Hurricane Rita in Mexico.

January 7, 2006: Sixteen dolphins displaced from the Gulfport Oceanarium which was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina and temporarily housed in various marine facilities throughout the United States have been exported to a Kerzner facility in The Bahamas.  This latest move comes after various reports that Kerzner has been scouring the world looking for dolphins to fill its new Atlantis resort.