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Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...
Irrawaddy dolphin

Helping fishers protect dolphins in Sarawak, Borneo

Fishing nets are bad news for dolphins and porpoises, so we're working with local fishers...
Dolphin watching from Chanonry Point, Scotland. Image: WDC/Charlie Phillips

Discovering inner peace – whale and dolphin watching and mental wellbeing

Guest blog If you've ever seen whales or dolphins in the wild, you'll know that...
Whale tail

An ocean of hope

In a monumental, jaw-dropping demonstration of global community, the nations of the world made history...
The infamous killing cove at Taiji, Japan

Why the Taiji dolphin hunt can never be justified

Supporters of the dolphin slaughter in Japan argue that killing a few hundred dolphins every...
Image: Peter Linforth

Tracking whales from space will help us save them

Satellite technology holds one of the keys to 21st century whale conservation, so we're exploring...
Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
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Minke whale hunts stop in Iceland

Iceland’s commercial hunt of minke whales has ended for this year. The common minke whale is the...
Port River dolphins

New report reveals 100,000 dolphins and small whales hunted every year

When you hear the words ‘dolphin hunts’ it’s likely that you think of Japan or...

Japan set to resume commercial whaling

Reports from Japan suggest that the government they will formally propose plans to resume commercial...

End the whale hunts! Icelandic fin whaler isolated as public mood shifts

Here’s a sight I hoped never again to witness. A boat being scrubbed and repainted...

Australian Government to block Japanese whaling proposal

Japanese Government officials have reportedly confirmed that they will propose the resumption of commercial whaling...

Did Icelandic whalers really kill a blue whale?

*Warning - this blog contains an image that you may find upsetting* They say a...

Icelandic whalers breach international law and kill iconic, protected whale by mistake

Icelandic whalers out hunting fin whales for the first time in three years appear to...

Pregnant whales once again a target for Japanese whalers

Figures from Japan's whaling expedition to Antarctica during the 2017/18 austral summer have revealed that...

Doubts remain after Icelandic Marine Institute claims slaughtered whale was a hybrid not a blue

Experts remain sceptical of initial test results issued by the Icelandic Marine Institute, which indicate...

Norway's whaling season begins

April 1st saw the start of the whaling season in Norway. Despite a widely-accepted international moratorium...

SOS alert for whales off Norway!

I have to admit to bitter disappointment when I arrived in Tromsø, northern Norway, a...

Icelandic fin whale hunting to resume

Iceland’s only fin whaling company, Hvalur hf,  announced today that it will resume fin whaling...

41 candidate important marine mammal areas (IMMAs) identified in the Med

The first ever workshop to define Important Marine Mammal Areas — IMMAs — concluded last week in Chania, Greece with the identification of 41 candidate IMMAs (cIMMAs) in the Mediterranean region. They range in size from 50 km2 for species such as the Mediterranean monk seal to over 134,000 km2 across the Ligurian Sea and Northwest Mediterranean for fin and sperm whales. Nine marine mammal species were proposed for cIMMAs from a total of 11 being evaluated by the participating experts. Some cIMMAs feature multiple species of marine mammals.

This work represents the culmination of three years effort by the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force working with Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Tethys Research Institute and other groups to put the precious habitats of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other marine mammals on the map for conservation planning. The Mediterranean is the first pilot region with others to follow over the next five years.

IMMAs are a new tool for conservation, modelled after the Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) concept. IMMAs are defined as discrete portions of habitat, important to marine mammal species, that have the potential to be delineated and managed for conservation. IMMAs are an advisory expert-based classification, and have no legal standing as  MPAs but are intended to be used in conservation planning by governments, intergovernmental organisations, conservation groups, and the general public. Some may become part of future MPA or zoned protection areas while others will be valuable for marine spatial planning (MSP) or to monitor areas for climate change, bycatch, noise, shipstrike and other threats faced by marine mammals. In some cases IMMAs may reveal that existing MPAs, management zones or protection measures may need to be altered based on new emerging evidence. Marine mammals, like seabirds, are important indicator species for ecosystem health and biodiversity, aided by their high visibility. They are also umbrella species able to bring many other species under protection.

The 5-day workshop (24-28 October) was organised by the  IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force and sponsored by the MAVA Foundation. There were 34 expert participants from 18 countries including Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Malta, Duke University and UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre attended as observers. ACCOBAMS—the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area—joined the Task Force as a Partner, also helping with the organisation along with the Tethys Research Institute.

The workshop considered many areas of interest (AoIs) which were submitted to the workshop by participants, as well as by the wider marine mammal research and conservation community. The experts agreed on proposing the 41 cIMMAs based on the best evidence available. The cIMMAs will next go to an independent review panel who will assess whether the criteria were applied correctly and verify that the available supporting evidence was sufficient to support each of them. If approved, the boundaries and supporting evidence will be made available on the Task Force website. The other AoIs identified by experts will be used to assist with highlighting reference areas for further marine mammal research, which will help build an evidence base on which future cIMMAs may be proposed.

The Task Force is already making plans for future IMMA workshops in other regions of the ocean. The next one will cover the vast South Pacific and will be held in Apia, Samoa, in late March 2017. From 2018-2021, further workshops will bring together marine mammal experts from the Northeast Indian Ocean, the Northwest Indian Ocean, the Southeast Pacific and the waters of Australia-New Zealand and adjacent Oceania waters. These southern hemisphere workshops will be funded as part of the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative (GOBI) and the German government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI).

For more information about IMMAs and the work of the Task Force, see the Task Force website.