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SC/69B/E/19
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Resource ID
22080
Access
Open
Document Number
SC/69B/E/19
Full Title
State of the Cetacean Environment Report
Author
Stachowitsch, Rose, Parsons
Authors Summary
In response to several IWC resolutions, the State of the Cetacean Environment Report (SOCER) provides regular updates on environmental matters that affect cetaceans. The 2024 SOCER is on the Mediterranean and Black Seas. A new 5-year compendium will be prepared for 2025, with no separate SOCER that year. Editorship will be transitioning in this interim, after 20 years of leadership by Stachowitsch, with Rose and Parsons. The Mediterranean Sea features a water exchange rate at the century scale and is therefore sensitive to pollution; it is one of the most oil-polluted. Mercury poses the main heavy metal threat. The Ocean Health Index ranks at least 12 of the 22 coastal states here below the global average value. Five of the six coastal countries in the Black Sea are also below that average. In both seas, the large number of bordering states complicates regional conservation measures. The Mediterranean is a hotspot for biological invasions (primarily tropical species via the Suez Canal). Plastics pollution is among the most serious concerns in both seas and both, as semi-enclosed seas, are sensitive to climate change due to limited northern migration possibilities. Globally, management efforts have done little to reverse extinction risk of small cetaceans, a group where research is not prioritised toward the greatest predictors of this risk: small-scale fisheries and habitat degradation. Ocean warming is increasing faster than terrestrial warming, with marine heatwaves on the rise and Atlantic ocean circulation predicted to collapse this century. North Atlantic right whales, a species at extreme risk of extinction, show reduced survival and reproductive output after even ?minor? entanglements and sonar impacts in testing ranges may cause localised extinctions in Atlantic beaked whales.
Publisher
IWC
Publication Year
2024
Abstract
The 2024 State of the Cetacean Environment Report (SOCER) on the Mediterranean and Black Seas