IUCN – SSC Cetacean Specialist Group

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IUCN – SSC Cetacean Specialist Group / Articles posted by admin (Page 8)
03 Jul 2014

Update on Mekong and Ayeyarwady Irrawaddy dolphin conservation

With support of the CSG, further steps were taken recently toward the conservation of two of Asia’s three riverine populations of Irrawaddy dolphins Orcaella brevirostris: in the Mekong of Cambodia and Laos and in the Ayeyarwady of Myanmar. Mekong River Irrawaddy Dolphins The critically endangered Mekong River...

21 Apr 2014

There are four (maybe more) separate species of Sousa

By Peter Corkeron (20th April 2014) Dolphins in the genus Sousa, the humpback dolphins, occur in coastal waters of West Africa, around the Indian Ocean, and in SE Asia and Australia. A recent scientific paper starts to clarify the number of species in the genus. Martin...

03 Apr 2014

Blue whales protected in the largest Marine Park in continental Chile

By Francisco Viddi and Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete The Chilean government has recently approved the declaration of the Tic Toc Marine Park, located on Chile’s southern coast, off the Northern Patagonian Fjords.  This marine park, in the waters of Corcovado Gulf, will protect of one of the most...

13 Nov 2013

Announcement of the Creation of the Marine Mammal Protected Area Task Force

by Erich Hoyt and Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara 25 October 2013 The creation of the IUCN Joint SSC/WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Area Task Force (MMPATF) was formally announced on 24 October 2013 by Dan Laffoley, World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara on behalf...

24 Oct 2013

Concern over use of dolphins for bait in shark fisheries

The release last week of a newspaper article and accompanying video footage of dolphins in Peru being harpooned by fishermen and the flesh used as bait in the shark fishery has received considerable international attention<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465575/Dolphins-killed-bait-catch-endangered-sharks-Peru.html>. The CSG has evidence that in addition to Peru, dolphins are,...

02 Oct 2013

A 2008 whale mass stranding in Madagascar linked to sonar mapping for the first time

[caption id="attachment_1522" align="alignright" width="300"] An alien environment for a deep diving species. Photographer: Tim Collins[/caption] In 2008, approximately 100 melon-headed whales stranded in the Loza Lagoon system in Madagascar. The response effort was multi-faceted and included local people, government officials, conservation organisations and marine mammal experts....

22 Jul 2013

First gray whale seen in the southern hemisphere

Written by Dr Simon Elwen, of the Namibian Dolphin Project http://namibiandolphinproject.blogspot.co.uk/ On the 4th of May 2013, marine tour operators working in Walvis Bay, Namibia, reported an 'odd looking whale, possibly a gray whale' to local researchers running the Namibian Dolphin Project (NDP). A few years ago,...

18 Jul 2013

Yangtze finless porpoise is listed as Critically Endangered

The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), the world’s only freshwater porpoise, has been upgraded to Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This follows the recent probable extinction of the other cetacean once found in China’s Yangtze River system, the Yangtze...

11 Jul 2013

IWC/CPPS/Ecuador Training Workshop for Responding to Large Whale Entanglement Events

[caption id="attachment_1445" align="alignleft" width="355"] Large whale disentanglement workshop underway in Ecuador[/caption] This regional training workshop was carried out in Salinas, Ecuador, 27-28 June 2013. The entanglement of large whales in small scale gillnets has been identified as a major conservation issue in some countries of the...

12 Jun 2013

Mexican government approves selective fishing gear to reduce Vaquita bycatch

On the 6th June 2013 the Government of Mexico took an important step to save the vaquita.  The Mexican ‘Official Norm’ establishes shrimp fishing standards in Mexico and defines which gear is permitted in different zones of the country. The Government has adopted important modifications...