The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission reviews whale watching activities world-wide, including associated data collection programs. To facilitate that work, we are requesting the following basic information from organizations that collect or receive cetacean data from commercial platforms of opportunity. We are attempting to keep this information current, so if you responded to this request in previous years please confirm that your information still applies in 2008. In the future, we hope to have an on-line interface that will allow you to keep your own information up-to-date. 1) Name of scientific organization 2) Location in which data were collected 3) Years of study 4) Cetacean species studied 5) Type of commercial opportunistic platform used: a) whale watching vessel, b) ferry, c) fishing vessel, d) other-please specify. 6) Type(s) of data collected (list any that apply): a) cetacean sighting data, b) survey effort data, c) animal behavior, d), photo-ID, e) management oriented data (fisheries interactions, ship strikes, harassment), f) scat/prey collection, g) environmental data 7) Category of person responsible for collecting the data: a) captain, b) crew, c) naturalist, d) dedicated scientific observer, e) 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 2009? Please e-mail your response as soon as possible and no later than April 30, 2009. Responses should be addressed to Jooke Robbins <jrobbins@coastalstudies.org>. Sincerely, Jooke Robbins, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies