*World Marine Mammal Conference Workshop Announcement - Areas of Interest (AoI) for informing the identification of Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) - Barcelona, Sunday, December 8, 12:30-17:30* Dear Subscribers, Later this year the IUCN Joint SSC/WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPATF) will be hosting a workshop on the use of Areas of Interest (AoI) for informing the identification of Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs). IMMAs are defined as discrete portions of habitat, important to marine mammal species, that have the potential to be delineated and managed for conservation. IMMAs consist of areas that may merit place-based protection and/or monitoring, and can be seen as a marine mammal layer indicative of biodiversity and potentially ecosystem health for consideration by governments, intergovernmental organisations, conservation groups, and the general public. Held before the World Marine Mammal Conference (WMMC) on Sunday - December 8 - in the city of Barcelona, this workshop will aim to bring together experts on global habitat data, historic whaling records, and other existing data 'triggers' which could help identify potential candidate IMMAs. Space at the workshop will be limited so please contact the workshop organisers at immacoordinator(a)gmail.com for all enquiries about the workshop and registration. For more information and queries about the workshop, and the instructions to register, please go to https://tinyurl.com/y6e48zkj - and for any other questions on the IUCN MMPATF and IMMA initiative please visit https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org Sincerely, Dr. Michael J. Tetley IMMA Programme Coordinator IUCN Joint SSC/WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPATF)