Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises: 2002-2010 Conservation - IUCN

Since the 1960s, the global volunteer network called the
Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) has played a major role in
identifying problems of cetacean conservation and brokering
approaches to their solution. The first CSG action plan
appeared in 1988 and consisted mainly of a list of recommended
research projects related to assessment and conservation.
The next plan, published in 1994, updated and
supplemented the list of research needs. At least partly
through the efforts of the CSG, most of the recommended
projects have been initiated, if not fully implemented and
completed. Many of them probably would never have gotten
off the ground without the CSG’s endorsement and, often,
assistance in obtaining financial support. This is especially
true for the projects carried out in the developing countries
of Latin America, West Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and
Southeast Asia.
Some progress has been made, but as the present plan
testifies, grave threats to the continued existence of many
cetaceans still exist, and some threats are worsening. The
baiji, vaquita, and North Atlantic right whale are near extinction.
It seems unlikely that the baiji will still be around
when the next new action plan is formulated eight or ten
years from now. Local populations of other species have
disappeared or are seriously threatened. Cetacean diversity,
like all biodiversity worldwide, is crumbling; we are losing
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it at a rapid and increasing rate. So we must redouble our
efforts.
This new plan departs from its predecessors in recommending
a number of specific conservation actions, including
some related directly to management. This reflects
the increasing role that conservation biologists must take in
the real world of interactions between society and wildlife.
Social, economic, and political factors will determine what
we have left in a few years, and we need to understand and
address those factors. If we don’t speak up, if we don’t go
out of our way to prod and assist the managers, there will be
no hope for continued abundance and diversity of whales,
dolphins, and porpoises.
The CSG has done a lot. The challenge now is to do much
more, and this new plan provides the needed guidance.
William F. Perrin
Former CSG Chairman
NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service
Southwest Fisheries Science Center
La Jolla, California 92038
USA