Dear MARMAM Colleagues On behalf of the the workshop steering group (named here), it is my pleasure to announce the upcoming World Marine Mammal Conference - Harmonising Global Strandings Response on Sunday 8th Dec 0830-1730 Karen Stockin, International Whaling Commission (karen.stockin@iwc.int) Frances Gulland, Marine Mammal Commission (francesgulland@gmail.com) Sarah Wilkin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (sarah.wilkin@noaa.gov) Brian Sharp, International Fund for Animal Welfare (bsharp@ifaw.org) Sandro Mazzariol, University of Padua (sandro.mazzariol@unipd.it) Mike Ziccardi, UC Davis (mhziccardi@ucdavis.edu) Hugo Nijkamp, Sea-Alarm (nijkamp@sea-alarm.org) Harmonising Global Strandings Response In 2016, an IWC multi-disciplinary expert workshop discussed how best to develop practical guidance on handling cetacean strandings. The workshop concluded that an international Strandings Initiative should be established under the auspices of the IWC. The need for a coherent international umbrella that could link up national marine mammal stranding networks was also a recommendation of the 2018 Sea Alarm workshop organised in Brest, France. The 2019 workshop aims at synergising existing initiatives in marine mammal emergency response. Effectively, the workshop aims to unify the efforts of IWC, ACCOBAMS, ASCOBANS, NOAA, IFAW, BDMLR, PJ and other regional and national networks alongside that of the oil spill response community. The overarching aim is to assess synergies and identify what is required to coordinate, support, enhance and globalise the response to marine mammal strandings. The workshop will attempt to standardise the approach to marine mammal stranding response worldwide, which will in turn lead to improved data collection, animal welfare, and sharing of information and resources, and improved efficiencies during emergencies. This workshop will bring together international government and non-government marine mammal and environmental protection agencies, marine mammal managers and policy makers, first responders and researchers working in strandings contexts. Countries with established networks as well as countries with minimal or no current capacity for stranding response but who share interest in the development of such capacity are particularly welcome. The anticipated output of the workshop is a white paper developed from the workshop proceedings that will be circulated to specific international organisations involved in stranding and oil spill response globally (e.g. IWC, NOAA, ASCOBANS, ACCOBAMS, IFAW, WCS etc). Attendee Support and Opportunities: Potential attendees from developing nations whom are keen to attend in anticipation of establishing strandings capacity in their own countries should contact Karen Stockin on karen.stockin@iwc.int<mailto:karen.stockin@iwc.int> to be considered for financial assistance. Additionally, two student rapporteurs are required to assist with the compilation of references and drafting of the post workshop report. Potential volunteers should email the workshop leaders, and if accepted will receive free registration for the workshop. Please register your attendance at https://www.wmmconference.org/workshops/#Establishing%20A%20Global%20Marine%... WMMC Workshops – World Marine Mammal Science Conference<https://www.wmmconference.org/workshops/#Establishing%20A%20Global%20Marine%20Mammal%20Stranding%20Network> www.wmmconference.org Workshop registration is now open! Workshops attendance is on a first come first serve basis. As workshops become full, a waitlist will be created to hold a place for interested attendees. Places are strictly limited so please don't delay! Karen Stockin, PhD Strandings Coordinator International Whaling Commission This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential or legally privileged information and is intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the named addressee you should delete the email and notify the sender immediately. E-mails are not secure and cannot be guaranteed to be error free as they can be intercepted, amended, or contain viruses. Any opinion and other statement contained in this message and any attachment are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the International Whaling Commission.