From 3-15 June, almost 200 cetacean scientists from around the world met at the annual IWC Scientific Committee meeting in Jeju, Republic of Korea. Since 1950, this Committee has met annually to bring together information and expertise from every continent. Over 100 sessions were held and more than 200 scientific papers were discussed. Sessions covered all aspects of cetacean conservation and management: the status of individual whale populations; ecosystem modelling; impacts of hunting, entanglement and ship strikes; health and disease; effects of noise; implications of climate change; and oil spill response capacity. The findings and recommendations of the Scientific Committee are incorporated into a single extensive report with a number of technical annexes. The reports of the Scientific Committee provide the scientific basis for IWC policymaking. All are published and publicly available and since 1998 have been included as a supplement to the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. To read the 2013 report, click here.
Past Scientific Committee reports can be found on this website http://iwc.int/reports .