The achievements of IWC capacity building programmes were recognised at IWC69, where a number of different initiatives reported on efforts to provide training and advice, addressing some of the most significant threats facing cetaceans today.

A moving tribute was paid to the retiring Technical Advisor for Large Whale Entanglement, David Mattila. Entanglement was the focus of the IWC’s first capacity building programme, instigated by the governments of Australia, Norway and the USA in 2009 in response to severe welfare concerns. When large whales become entangled in fishing gear they may be forced to tow nets, lobster pots and other heavy gear for months or even years. Over time, the tight wraps can cut through flesh and cause disease, or starvation if effective feeding is prevented. 

Disentangling large, often distressed animals using knives and grapples whilst negotiating a small boat, open water and changeable weather is extremely dangerous and has very sadly caused two fatalities in recent years.

The IWC Global Whale Entanglement Response Network (GWERN) was established as a partnership with the Center for Coastal Studies, to develop and teach safe and effective disentanglement protocols to responders around the world. David conducted the first training in 2012. Since then the Network has trained 1758 people in 43 countries and 5 continents. It has also developed a programme of advanced apprenticeships, ‘training the trainers’ and equipping apprentices with the skills and knowledge to become regional trainers themselves, now delivering workshops in Spanish and Portuguese as well as English.

The model developed for entanglement response has provided the IWC with a successful blueprint for subsequent work programmes, each recruiting a technical advisor, supported by an internationally recognised Expert Panel, and overseen by an IWC steering group.  This blueprint has now also been used for IWC initiatives tackling bycatch, vessel strikes and strandings.

Another common component of these different initiatives is the development of protocols and guidelines, Building on the IWC Scientific Committee’s history of providing advice related to human impacts on cetaceans, each Expert Panel has developed protocols and guidelines based on their sharing of information and experiences to create internationally recognised best practice. The IWC has developed this type of guidance for both entanglement and stranding response. In addition, the Commission has worked in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to produce Technical Guidelines to Prevent and Reduce Marine Mammal Bycatch in Capture Fisheries, and associated factsheets.

IWC69 also received reports of good progress on capacity building training conducted by the Stranding Initiative.  A regionally-focused package has been 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 international best practice for collecting data and samples from carcasses.

In collaboration with the Government of Colombia, strandings capacity building training was also delivered in Colombia in last Summer to 35 participants. This was part of a wider project also delivering bycatch risk assessment and mitigation training, and large whale entanglement response training through tailored workshops held in Tumaco, Puerto Nariño and Bogata.

Real-time, emergency response is another key component of the Strandings Initiative.  This capability to provide remote, expert support is now networked around the world and has recently been called into action to assist strandings teams in Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean.

An update was also provided on plans for a stranding database.  A partnership with ASCOBANS and ICES is developing proposals for a regional database that can eventually be expanded to include global strandings data.

Data collection is central to the development of much of the IWC’s work, including on collisions between vessels and whales. A long-term project to build a global database of vessel strikes began in 2007 and reported significant progress to IWC69. The Vessel Strikes Database is providing a better understanding of the scale of the problem, the importance of risk factors such as vessel type and speed, mortality estimates for different populations, and identification of high risk areas. All this information informs mitigation measures and can be passed on to organisations such as the IMO and industries including cruise and  container shipping.

Information presented at IWC69 and beyond, suggests that many of the threats to whales, dolphins and porpoises are both global and growing. At its recent meeting in Lima, Peru, the Commission heard reports from a range of different IWC initiatives, each working to gather information and data, develop effective responses, guidelines and protocols and crucially, to share them through capacity building activities at international, regional, national and local levels. The Commission acknowledged the importance of this work, endorsed a range of new work plans and strategic plans, and welcomed the most recent and tangible progress.