Dear Colleagues, We wish to announce the creation of the IndoCet Consortium, an effort to formalize a Southwest Indian Ocean network for cetacean research. In order to officially launch IndoCet, we will be holding an Inception Workshop during the 2nd Humpback Whale World Congress on Reunion Island, July 3-7, 2017. As the time for the HWWC rapidly approaches we are sending this announcement to provide some brief information on the workshop, which is funded by the Indian Ocean Commission Biodiversity Program and hosted by the HWWC. The IndoCet Inception workshop will be held on the last day of the HWWC meeting, on the afternoon of July 6, 2017, and is open to all whom wish to attend. The purpose of the workshop is to officially launch the IndoCet Consortium and start the process of building membership in the Consortium. IndoCet was first conceived in November 2014 during a workshop on satellite telemetry of humpback whales in the Southwest Indian Ocean, held on Reunion Island and supported by a grant from the European Commission BEST program. Over a 2 year period the Consortium steadily developed with the efforts of a steering committee named at the original workshop and through support from the IOC and the 1st HWWC. The Consortium has now finally reached a point to officially launch and announce broadly to the marine mammal research community, and open membership to all researchers and conservationists that are interested in being involved. At the IndoCet Inception workshop, we will describe the history of the Consortium and how it developed, introduce the Memorandum of Understanding that was developed by the Steering Committee, introduce the current and the prospective members attending the workshop, and discuss the future direction and opportunities for the Consortium. If you have interest in participating in IndoCet, or attending the Inception Workshop, please send an email to info@indocet.org. Best regards, Salvatore Cerchio Violaine Dulau ********************************** Salvatore Cerchio, Ph.D. www.omuraswhale.org New England Aquarium scerchio@ <scerchio@gmail.com>neaq.org Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scerchio@whoi.edu +261-32-47-549-93 (Madagascar mobile) +1-917-796-3363 (USA mobile) +1-508-289-3677 (WHOI) Skype: scerchio