Actualités

During the last IndoCet meeting in Reunion (July 2019), the value of coordinating stranding responses within the IndoCet and the Indian Ocean regions was discussed (see the report of the meeting here), and Stephanie Plön volunteered to take on the role of strandings coordinator. Stephanie is a Research Associate with the Bayworld Center for Research and Education (BCRE), and is based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She has been working on marine mammal strandings predominantly in the Eastern Cape for the last 25 years and has increasingly been investigating aspects of cetacean health and links to anthropogenic stressors.

As a first step a WhatsApp IndoCet strandings group has been created to facilitate communication and provide assistance and support with stranding response, level-A data and sample collection throughout the region. We are also planning to create a stranding webpage on the IndoCet website and to add a tab on the metadata table to report cetacean strandings from the region. If you would like to be added to the strandings group please send an email to info@indocet.org. 
As a first opportunity to highlight the work of IndoCet in this area, an IWC paper will be presented at the upcoming meeting of the Scientific Committee (12-24 May), which is being held virtually this year because of restrictions in place due to the CoVid-19 pandemic. All members willing to contribute their data will receive co-authorship. The deadline for data contributions is the 30th April! To do so, please send an email to stephanie.ploen@gmail.com