The International Whaling Commission - IWC

The Strandings Initiative Expert Panel has concluded an intensive but successful 3-day workshop in Venice. The workshop focused on two priority areas: emergency response and capacity building.

The IWC Scientific Committee begins its annual meeting today. Due to Covid-19, this is the first time in four years that members of the Committee are able to gather in-person. 

In March, a multi-agency team began the field work stage of the project "Franciscana dolphins aerial surveys in Uruguay: overcoming a challenge".

The IWC has published new General Principles for Whale Watching, a 4-page summary that forms part of a wider package of IWC work to assess and minimise the impacts of whale watching on individual animals, populations and their habitat.

A new IWC survey aims to build a clearer picture of the scale, location and nature of marine seismic surveys conducted for hydrocarbon exploration. The survey will ask government agencies, private companies, research institutions and non-governmental organisations to provide information on survey activity at any point in the next five years.