Abstract:
This report presents details of the Indian Ocean Cetacean Symposium (IOCS), held in Maldives in July 2009. This marked the 30th anniversary of the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) Indian Ocean Sanctuary. The Symposium was a scientific meeting, convened by the Maldivian Marine Research Centre, and attracting some 60 scientists from 22 countries. The meeting was opened by the Vice President of the Republic of Maldives. Keynote addresses were given by Dr. Sidney Holt and Dr. Roger Payne. A total of 43 presentations were made, demonstrating the wide range of cetacean research being carried out within the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean Sanctuary was acknowledged as an important management tool for the protection of large whales (which suffered very high, and illegal, catches mainly by Soviet whalers in the 1960s). However, the Indian Ocean Sanctuary provides little protection for small cetaceans, which suffer from a range of threats, but particularly from fisheries by-catch. The IOCS formulated and adopted the Lankanfinolhu (Maldives) Declaration, which among other things calls upon the IWC to ensure the continuation of the Indian Ocean Sanctuary in perpetuity; and on coastal countries to monitor and reduce catches of cetaceans in their fisheries; stresses the importance of improved education; reminds all Indian Ocean parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity of their commitments to protect at least 10% of all ecosystems, including marine and coastal waters; supports the wider adoption of responsible whale and dolphin watching guidelines and regulations; and encourages Indian Ocean states, in collaboration with the IWC and other relevant organizations, to develop a collectively agreed action plan to improve conservation outcomes for cetaceans in the Indian Ocean Sanctuary. Other physical outputs from the IOCS include a poster of Indian Ocean cetaceans (distributed to all participants and to every school in the Maldives), and a peer-reviewed, dedicated issue of the IWC’s Journal of Cetacean Research and Management containing 15 scientific papers on Indian Ocean cetaceans.
