Dear colleagues, The World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) has formed a Beaked Whale Advisory Group with the aim of prioritizing the need to move beaked whale species of conservation concern off the current IUCN Red List of Data Deficient species. To initiate discussion, the WCA has put together an initial list of the major threats that pertain to beaked whale species (see below). This list has been composed using information from the IUCN. We would like to invite the scientific community to review this list and highlight whether other threats or species should be considered. *List of Beaked Whale Threats:* *Climate change* · Arnoux's Beaked Whale · Gray's Beaked Whale · Hector's Beaked Whale · Strap-toothed Whale · True's Beaked Whale · Stejneger's Beaked Whale · Spade-toothed Whale *Restricted distribution* · Perrin's Beaked Whale *Noise* · Indo-pacific Beaked Whale · Blainville's Beaked Whale · Gervais' Beaked Whale · Ginkgo-toothed Beaked Whale · Cuvier's Beaked Whale · Northern Bottlenose Whale *Bycatch/entanglement/indirect or direct takes* · Andrew's Beaked Whale · Gervais' Beaked Whale · Gray's Beaked Whale · Hector's Beaked Whale · Strap-toothed Whale · True's Beaked Whale · Perrin's Beaked Whale · Pygmy Beaked Whale · Stejneger's Beaked Whale · Spade-toothed Whale · Cuvier's Beaked Whale We are currently completing a detailed literature search for each species to determine new information that has been published since the IUCN listings (available for review and additions on the beaked whale forum google group). With the help of the scientific community we aim to narrow down the list of species so that we can focus our efforts towards those that have the most information and/or deserve the most immediate attention. We hope to plan a targeted Beaked Whale Workshop focusing on the most important sites/species deemed by the group to be of conservation concern. Workshops will likely take place at the forthcoming ECS and SMM Conferences. We ask that those who would like to participate continue this discussion using our beaked whale forum google group. If you would like to join the Beaked Whale Advisory Group please contact clair@worldcetaceanall <clair@worldcetaceanalliance.org>iance.org <clair@worldcetaceanalliance.org> to be added to the google group. We look forward to welcoming you to our discussions, Clair Evers Beaked Whale Project Manager World Cetacean Alliance *T* +44 (0)1273 355011 E *clair*@worldcetaceanalliance.org W www.worldcetaceanalliance.org *A* Studio 3, Lower Promenade, Madeira Drive, Brighton, BN2 1ET, UK *The World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) is a Partnership of over 70 non-profit organisations, whale and dolphin watching tour operators and individuals in 35 countries worldwide working collaboratively to protect cetaceans and their habitats. World Cetacean Alliance, the Secretariat to the Partnership, is a UK registered Charity no. 1160484. * *The content of this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this communication in error, be aware that forwarding it, copying it, or in any way disclosing its content to any other person, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail immediately.* *Please consider the environment before printing this email or it's attachments. *