The IWC Strandings Initiative was launched in 2016. It is led by a Strandings Coordinator, supported by an Expert Panel and overseen by a Steering Group.
The Strandings Initiative has developed practical guidance on handling cetacean strandings, incorporating the skills and experiences of its internationally recognised Expert Panel. This guidance is used to provide capacity building training on strandings response to government agencies and other stakeholders. The Strandings Initiative also provides real-time advice and support to teams responding to strandings events all over the world. As well as IWC member governments, the Strandings Initiative is engaged with other intergovernmental organisations, academic institutions, regional and national strandings networks.
Members of the Expert Panel provide real-time, emergency support to teams handing stranded cetaceans on coastlines all over the world
Training
IWC strandings response workshops have been delivered in a range of locations, from Oman to Colombia. In 2023, a tailored training package was developed and delivered in partnership with CARI’MAM, the Caribbean Marine Mammals Preservation Network. Over 110 participants from eight Caribbean nations attended a series of workshops, held in four different languages and eight locations. The training moved from classrooms to beaches to labs, including training in first aid and refloating of live animals, and collecting data and samples from carcasses. This project served as a successful pilot test of a new operational model and identified areas where the IWC can offer the most effective support in the future.
Practical workshop, learning to take samples and obtain data
Real-Time Response
The real-time advice requested by teams handling live strandings and strandings investigations varies greatly. Topics include unusual mortality events, mass strandings, disease and epizootics, specifically HPAIV, live strandings and out-of-habitat animals. The majority of guidance is provided virtually but in-person support is also available if needed. In 2018, the Initiative was able to deploy regional experts and provide funding to support the Government of Argentina in responding to a mass stranding of common dolphins in Peninsula Valdes. Subject to resources, the Strandings Initiative is able to facilitate three such responses around the world each year.
Data
The Strandings Initiative is also raising awareness of the need to collate and co-ordinate data from national strandings networks. Standardized, global data is vital to understanding the causes of cetacean stranding, and addressing those causes which are man-made. Strandings response training usually includes workshops in performing necropsies, teaching best practice and ensuring valuable information can be obtained when stranded cetaceans die. The IWC is also working in partnership with ASCOBANS and ICES is developing proposals for a regional database that can eventually be expanded to include global strandings data.
Further Reading
- Read the 2024 Report of the Strandings Co-ordinator.
- Read the Strategic Objectives for the Strandings Initiative.
- Read the Strandings Initiative Four-Year Workplan (2025-28).
- Read the Report of the 2016 Strandings Workshop which recommended the establishment of the IWC Strandings Initiative.
- Read about the IWC Expert Panel on Strandings.
