I hate to see litter by the roadsides, but the accumulation of debris in the ocean is out of sight and therefore out of mind. My first research project at EIA focused on the impacts of marine debris on cetaceans. I was alarmed to read that 6.4 million tonnes of litter is dumped in oceans every year
A resolution was proposed by Monaco on highly migratory cetaceans in the high seas. It sought to increase the synergy between the IWC and the United Nations on the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) and to focus UN attention on the whaling carried out in these waters despite the moratorium
Many issues are discussed, including the Conservation Commission, the IWC’s budget, Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling quotas and welfare issues. Most productive was the Conservation Committee, with its packed agenda demonstrating the evolution of the IWC from a ‘whalers’ club’ to an effective, modern conservation body
A briefing to the 64th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission, in Panama, on the impacts of marine debris on cetaceans. Marine debris has the potential to affect all trophic levels and the entire food chain, from planktonic microorganisms through to marine megafauna including cetaceans
While sailing, they were collecting interesting information for EIA’s Eyes of the Ocean programme, including sightings of swallows and an egret taking a rest on the yachts, pilot whales and dolphins, flying fish, squid and gorgeous albatrosses. The wildlife depressingly contrasted with worrying amounts of marine debris
Sailors are reporting back on sights they have seen. They were pretty upset about the amount of marine debris they saw in the Mediterranean, such a beautiful sea containing many dolphins but littered with plastic and other debris