Intersessional Working Group on Beaked Whales Established
Bonn, 12 November 2020 - The topic of beaked whales was raised at the 9th Meeting of the Parties (MOP9, 7-11 September 2020) because of the strandings that had occurred in the UK, Ireland, the Faroes and elsewhere. Many of the species were categorised as Data Deficient under IUCN, and the level of monitoring at sea was inadequate.
The MOP agreed to establish an intersessional working group (IWG) on Beaked Whales to bring together experts to collect data of recent strandings, population abundance and distribution, to discuss potential reasons for the strandings, and report back to the 26th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee (8-12 November 2021). The Secretariat circulated a call to MOP9 participants, ASCOBANS National Coordinators, chairpersons of ASCOBANS Working Groups and observers to join the Intersessional Working Group. Seventeen people expressed interest by the deadline of 4th October 2020. However, membership is not closed and more experts are welcome to join and serve in the IWG. Interested experts can contact the ASCOBANS Secretariat.
The IWG Beaked Whales will meet online on 17th November 2020 to discuss collection of beaked whale data from recent strandings and collection of data on beaked whale population abundance and distribution. The IWG webpage can be accessed here.
