The End of a Quadrennium – the IUCN World Conservation Congress

The IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) took place in Abu Dhabi from October 9-15, 2025. The WCC marked the end of IUCN’s  most recent 4-year cycle, or quadrennium. It included five days of exhibition and a forum, run in parallel, and a 3-day Members’ Assembly. The Cetacean Specialist Group took part, represented by Co-chair Gianna Minton and four other CSG members. The CSG hosted a booth with the theme of Conservation Planning and Action for Cetaceans.

Booth at the IUCN WCC under the theme of Conservation Planning and Action for Cetaceans, featuring core messages about the importance of collaboration.

The exhibition and forum were attended by more than 10,000 people, with numerous presentations, panel discussions, and side meetings taking place in parallel from 8am to 9pm each day. CSG members contributed to sessions on Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs), cetacean conservation, impacts of non-selective fisheries on marine life, connectivity, how the Red List can help protect deep sea biodiversity, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Ocean Initiative, and advancing Marine Conservation through Research, Literacy, and Policy.

Our booth attracted a steady flow of traffic, with an energetic team of local volunteers from the UAE Dolphin Project helping to answer questions and share information prepared for the booth. Materials on display included this flyer featuring the work of the CSG and regional species-specific initiatives for some of the most endangered cetaceans, and this concept note outlining the CSG’s plans to develop a new Global Cetacean Action Plan during the next quadrennium.

While the majority of visitors to our booth were fellow scientists and conservationists interested in learning more about cetaceans and how to incorporate them into their own work, a number of potential donors and policy makers from all over the globe also visited the booth and gained insight into the most pressing conservation needs for cetaceans, and how the CSG and its members and partners are addressing them. Hopefully the connections made during the WCC will lead to meaningful support and collaborations in the coming months and years.

Cetacean Specialist Group members participating in the WCC, from left to right – Andy Willson, Robert Baldwin, Gianna Minton, Liz Slooten, and Ada Natoli.

The booth also served as a meeting point and hub for partners from the Arabian Sea Whale Network (ASWN), the Consortium for the Conservation of the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin (CCAHD), and the Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin Network (HuDoNet), all of which were well-represented at the WCC and able to promote and strengthen their regional collaborations and initiatives.

The WCC ended with three days of formal voting and meetings for IUCN’s 1,400+ members from over 170 countries. Members voted on new leadership and a series of motions proposed by members, intended to guide conservation action in the 2026-2029 quadrennium. The IUCN as a whole adopted a new 20-year strategic plan and 4-year work programme. Vivek Menon was elected as the new Chair of the Species Survival Commission (SSC), the Commission under which the CSG and all other taxonomic specialist groups operate, and the SSC launched its own Species Strategic Plan 2026–2029.

The booth served as a focal point for regional cetacean conservation initiatives, including the draft Conservation Management Plan for the Arabian Sea humpback whale (left), the Arabian Sea Whale Network (Center), and the Consortium for the Conservation of the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin (right).

The Nuremberg Zoo generously provided funding for the booth, CSG member Ada Natoli organized the volunteers from the UAE Dolphin Project who staffed the booth ably throughout the exhibition, and  Juariah Muhamed designed the back wall and front counter of the booth. Juariah also created this 20-minute video/slide show for the screen at the back of the booth, which beautifully illustrates some of the work of the CSG and its partners.

CSG members participated in presentations and panels.

A huge thanks to the local team of volunteers from the UAE Dolphin Project who staffed the booth, which attracted a steady flow of visitors!

June 2025 Update on Important Marine Mammal Areas

The Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) Initiative, the main activity of the Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPATF), has been underway since 2016 when the first expert workshop was convened to identify IMMAs in the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2016, more than 320 scientists from 80 countries have attended 11 regional workshops which have examined almost 80% of the world’s oceans. As of July 2025, the work has resulted in the identification of 323 IMMAs, all available to view and explore in the online e-Atlas. The IMMA spatial layers, which can be used by a wide range of stakeholders for research, mitigation, planning or management, are available on request and have been sent to thousands of users from more than 90 countries.

Currently 100 of the 135 species of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals are included as species that meet IMMA criteria. 247 IMMAs (76.5% of the total) contain important habitat for at least one threatened marine mammal species. The total area of all IMMAs now covers 51,503,283 km², or nearly 18% of the ocean surface area that has been ‘examined’ by the MMPATF thus far. In addition, 196 Areas of Interest (AoI) have been identified for the e-Atlas. The AoI category features areas with insufficient evidence to be designated as IMMAs when they were evaluated, but were considered to have the potential to be designated once more research has been conducted.

A poster summarising progress in identifying IMMAs and their impact on conservation was presented in June 2025 at the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice.

The Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) initiative has helped strengthen the ‘voice’ for conservation and protection of marine mammals and their habitat globally. IMMA layers are presented on the platforms of Global Fishing Watch and the Proteus Partnership. They contribute to environmental impact assessments, and are used by regional and national governments in South America, Southeast Asia and the European Union for marine spatial planning and in the design of protected areas.

The next region to be examined for IMMAs is the Southeast Atlantic Ocean in 2026.

For more information about the background to the IMMA Programme and the CSG’s role in the work, please see our permanent IMMA page.

Emerging Concern for Gray Whales in the Eastern North Pacific

For many decades now, it has been generally agreed that the gray whale population that migrates along the west coast of North America, between wintering areas in Mexico and summering areas in Canada, Alaska (USA), and northeastern Russia, represented a conservation “success” story. As described in the most recent (2018) IUCN Red List species assessment, the eastern North Pacific population had recovered strongly from past over-exploitation; the population increased by around 2.5% per year from 1968 through to a peak around 1987/88, after which the population declined, followed by a further recovery to an estimated 26,960 whales (95% confidence interval = 24,420-29,830) based on counts during the 2015/16 southbound migration off California. Unfortunately, things have not gone well since 2016.

Based on the most recent shore-based count during the southward migration between 31 December 2024 and 14 February 2025, scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated that the migratory population now “most likely” consists of only 11,700 to 14,500 individuals (https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/70719). In other words, it has roughly halved since 2016. A June 2025 media release from NOAA revealed that only about 85 mother-calf pairs (95% CI = 55.48-293.5) migrated past the central California observation station between 31 March and 23 May 2025 on their way to feeding grounds in the Arctic. That was the lowest number since records began in 1994.

Calf production in this population has been unusually low since 2018-19 when a so-called “unusual mortality event” began. Between December 2018 and early November 2023, 690 gray whales were found stranded along the coasts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The causes of the low calf production and the 2018-2023 die-off are uncertain and this has caused growing concern.

Taken from the 2025 NOAA report on gray whales (Eguchi, Lang, and Weller, “Abundance of eastern North Pacific gray whales 2024/2025,” https://doi.org/10.25923/jqea-s505)

A recent paper on the recovery of baleen whale populations explores the possible links of downturns in abundance to changes in benthic prey availability, while an earlier paper underscored the capacity of gray whales to shift among various benthic and pelagic prey and presented evidence that whales in the eastern Chukchi Sea now routinely feed on krill. Eastern North Pacific gray whales may be an example of a population that is no longer being constrained from full recovery by commercial whaling but is limited in its growth and survival by modern-day threats that are even more challenging to tackle than commercial whaling was.

Gray whale body condition was assessed from aerial (drone) images obtained over multiple years in Laguna San Ignacio, B.C.S., Mexico, revealing large numbers of ‘skinny whales’ during years corresponding with unusual mortality events (UMEs) thought to be related to changes in prey availability. The percentage of “skinny” single whales (gray whales without calves) in “poor” condition peaked at 30% in 2020, declined to 4.6% in 2024 and then increased again to 13% in 2025. Photo credit: “Gray Whale Research in Mexico” team program, http://www.graywhaleresearchmexico.org

The CSG is being asked to reassess the eastern North Pacific gray whale population’s Red List status, and we are hoping to do that once the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee has reviewed the new data and analyses and commented on how the latest findings should be interpreted.

References:

Eguchi, T., Lang, A. and Weller, D. (2005). Abundance of eastern North Pacific gray whales 2024/2025. https://doi.org/10.25923/jqea-s505

Martínez S.A., Swartz, S., Urbán, J.R., Lobo R.B., Díaz, F.C., Romero, A.V., Partida, E.R., Olguín, J.H., Rodríguez, F., and Nuñez, A.J. (2025). Informe de las actividades del monitoreo de la ballena gris (Eschrichtius robustus) temporada invernal 2025 en Laguna San Ignacio, B.C.S. México. https://www.graywhaleresearchmexico.org/updates/2025-annual-gray-whale-report-laguna-san-ignacio-and-bahia-magdalena