Platforms of opportunity, especially whale watching vessels, can be a useful source of data on cetaceans in many areas. The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission reviews whale watching activities world-wide, including their data collection programs. To facilitate that work, we request the following basic information on organizations involved in whale watching based research. Our intent is to update this information on an annual basis. 1) Name of scientific organization 2) Location in which data were collected 3) Years of study 4) Cetacean species studied 5) Type of opportunistic platform used: whale watch, ferry, fishing vessel, other-please specify. 6) Type(s) of data collected (list any that apply): sighting effort data, basic sighting data, general animal behavior, behavioral disturbance data, photo-ID, other-please specify. 7) Person responsible for collecting the data: captain, crew, naturalist, dedicated observer, other--please specify. 8) Were data contributed to another archive (such as an oceanic catalog)? If so, please indicate which one. 9) Will this data collection program continue in 2006? A similar request for information was made on MARMAM last year, but the request was limited to US activities. If you responded previously, please just let us know if your information has changed. However, we would now greatly appreciate information on any opportunistic data collection activities world-wide. We are particularly interested in groups that performed such data collection in 2005. Please e-mail your response as soon as possible and no later than April 19, 2006. While we appreciate answers to as many questions as possible, please provide whatever you can within the time frame provided. Responses should be addressed to Jooke Robbins <jrobbins@coastalstudies.org>. Sincerely, Jooke Robbins Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies PO Box 1036 Provincetown, MA 02657