17562
Open
Global Numbers of Ship Strikes: An Assessment of Collisions Between Vessels and Cetaceans Using Available Data in the IWC Ship Strike Database
Christina Winkler, Simone Panigada, Sinead Murphy, Fabian Ritter
International Whaling Commission
2020
SC/68B/HIM/09 Rev1
This paper presents a preliminary summary of data held in the IWC ship strike database that has been reviewed and validated by a team of experts according to criteria previously defined by the IWC Scientific Committee. This summary constitutes the most comprehensive contemporary overview of ship strikes on a global basis. 1,162 incidents were reported, resulting in 933 cases after validation. However, the results presented here have to be viewed and treated with caution, as there are several caveats that need to be considered.