AWI Acts as IWC Ambassador at Marine Mammal Conference

The 25^th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, hosted by the Society for Marine Mammalogy, took place in November, in Perth, Australia. AWI’s Dr. Naomi Rose has attended all but the first six such conferences. Over the years, she has presented talks, posters, and workshops; participated on panel discussions; and tabled for the MMPA Coalition, an alliance of organizations focused on protecting marine mammals and maintaining strong support for the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. 

This year, Naomi volunteered to table for the International Whaling Commission, which was hosting a booth at the conference for the first time. The booth featured the work of the IWC and its Scientific Committee, focusing particularly on whale watching. Conference attendees were welcomed to the booth by Naomi and Dr. Stephanie Stack, who explained the work of the Scientific Committee and directed visitors to the IWC’s online Whale Watching Handbook, an extensive resource for those interested in responsible whale watching. 

Most such visitors were graduate students unaware of the myriad issues examined by the IWC Scientific Committee, including threats to cetaceans from fisheries entanglement, plastics debris, chemical pollution, marine noise, and unsustainable whale watching practices, among others. The booth featured easily accessible graphics illustrating this work and QR codes for information on the IWC website expanding on the Scientific Committee’s projects. AWI hopes the IWC will continue to host a booth at this conference, to inform up-and-coming young marine mammal scientists of this important forum for cetacean science.

Program Terms: Marine Wildlife

AWI Quarterly Terms: AWI News, Feature Article