Dear MARMAM subscribers,
OceanCare is delighted to inform you about our new animated video SAvE Whales addressing the threat posed to whales by ship strikes. The short video focuses on the situation of the endangered sperm whale population in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. It provides a very concise and straight forward explanation of the problem these whales face and what needs to be done to prevent collisions (such as re-routing and speed reduction). Furthermore, it presents the SAvE Whales system, the first real-time acoustic observatory for sperm whale localization<https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.873888/full> which has been developed as a complementary tool for high-risk areas where re-routing is not an option. The video is available on our YouTube channel in English, German, Greek and Spanish. German: https://youtu.be/wVajpjFiin0 English: https://youtu.be/r_qBbs2dabw Greek: https://youtu.be/C32oGSkgto8 Spanish: https://youtu.be/O1gjUyHUps8 We hope you find the video useful and would be grateful if you can share it via your communication channels. 2022 - A year in which progress has being made. We are proud to report about progress being made and the following examples are a demonstration of milestones we could achieve when working in partnership, close collaboration and through dialogue. OceanCare is proud of working closely with IFAW, the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and WWF Greece as a Coalition reaching out to shipping companies urging them to re-route based on scientific advice to avoid ship strikes when navigating through core sperm whale habitat. * In February 2021, NAVTEX warnings were issued by the Greek government in collaboration with the shipping industry informing ships transiting through the area on the presence of sperm whales and recommending them to take action to avoid ship collisions. * In January 2022, the world's largest shipping company, MSC, publicly announced to re-route according to the proposal from our Coalition. * In May 2022 the successful results of the SAvE Whales pilot project have been published in Frontiers of Marine Science. * In June 2022, the German Shipowners Association (VDR) urged all its Members (around 150 shipping companies) to re-route accordingly. * In October 2022, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) communicated the re-routing advise by VDR as shining example recommended its global members to follow suit. Other shipping companies have also taken a similar approach or are currently negotiating with the Coalition. SAvE Whales System The SAvE Whales system has been developed by an international and multi-disciplinary team of experts led by Greek researchers from Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and the Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics - FORTH. Other partners of the OceanCare project have been CINTAL - University of Algarve, Marine Traffic, Green2Sustain. We are now excited about our close collaboration with THE GREEN TANK in Greece in offering the system to make use of by the Greek authorities. For more information about the threat ship strikes pose to whales, please visit our new website at: https://www.oceancare.org/en/animal-welfare-and-species-conservation/collisions/ Kind regards, Sigrid and Nicolas PS: Between the 29th of November and the 2nd of December, the 8th Meeting of the ACCOBAMS Parties takes place. OceanCare is an official Partner of ACCOBAMS and engages in numerous initiatives to better protect whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Together with our partners, IFAW, Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and WWF Greece, we are going to host a side-event about ship strike avoidance at the MOP8 on December 1st. ____________________________________ OceanCare Sigrid Lueber, President and Founder Gerbestrasse 6, P.O.Box 372 CH-8820 Waedenswil - Switzerland Phone: +41-44-780 6688 Directline: +41-43- 477 6124 Cellphone +41-79-475 2687 slue...@oceancare.org<mailto:slue...@oceancare.org> www.oceancare.org<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.oceancare.org%2f&c=E,1,pAR3G_wFnOZ6B-KqCdbrwaQRKzNeJkW7ymP8HYp6vjSoj1MWUJfSP34-b8AfwJ_mVRv6EYnx-kQ09AAd8flM1rJCkm3b-iGnTpB-_ouAeNF1iU9EkHxyjA,,&typo=1> OceanCare is a Swiss non-profit organisation. It was founded in 1989 and has a strong commitment to realistic and cooperative initiatives. The organisation works at national and international level in the areas of marine pollution, environmental changes, fisheries, whaling, sealing, captivity of marine mammals and public education. OceanCare holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and is partner of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), and the UNEP/CMS Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS), as well as UNEP/MAP. Since 2021, OceanCare is accredited observer to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The organisation has been an observer at the IWC since 1992. OceanCare has also been accredited as part of the Major Group 'Science & Technology' to the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), which is the governing body of UNEP and is a part of the UNEP Global Partnership on Marine Litter. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the message.
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