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The year 2007 (extended to 2008) [1] was proposed and declared as the (International) Year of the Dolphin (YoD) by the United Nations and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), along with the UN Convention on Migratory Species, and its specialized agreements on dolphin conservation ACCOBAMS and ASCOBANS and the WDCS.
Dolphins are threatened marine mammals with close ties to human history and culture. Living in oceans and rivers, their survival is becoming increasingly difficult. Dolphins need clean and quiet oceans and protected areas.
With their variety of almost 40 species, dolphins are quintessential flagship species for their ecosystem. An ocean in which dolphins can do well is an ocean where all other lifeforms can do well too.
The Year of the Dolphin was part of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The campaign was also a tangible contribution towards meeting targets to reduce the loss of wildlife by 2010 which all Governments have agreed through the United Nations.
The United Nations, member governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and the private sector (e.g. TUI Group) are building a strong alliance to achieve a common objective: to protect dolphins.
A crucial factor in achieving the protection of dolphins is to create awareness of dolphin species, educate, inform decision makers and involve local communities.
The main focus of the campaign was on educational activities and awareness raising. The educational activities were aimed first and foremost at children, with numerous educational manuals, leaflets, posters etc. being distributed to schools and young tourists, e.g. through the network of YoD partner TUI. Numerous NGOs also played an important role in the raising of awareness for the plight of the dolphins.
Some outstanding contributions were made by dedicated individuals, e.g. a young teacher in Mumbai, India visited schools in his city, spreading the word on dolphin conservation to approximately 3000 schoolchildren, their teachers and, by extension, their families. The YoD partners supplied him with educational materials and prizes to give to children who had made special contributions.
Kenya was certainly a hotspot of YoD activities, with a large number of educational events, the dedication of a boat to the patrolling of Marine Protected Areas and an exchange of old fishing gear for sustainable, dolphin-friendly gear, to name only a few.
The website featured in-depth information on the almost 40 species of dolphins, as well as several outstanding conservation projects and articles on some of the activities undertaken in YoD 2007/2008. A more complete view of the YoD's activities and achievements was given on the YoD website.
The designated Patron of the Year of the Dolphin was H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, who formally launched the year on 17 September 2006. The Prince released a statement reading, "The Year of the Dolphin gives me the opportunity to renew my firm commitment towards protecting marine biodiversity. With this strong initiative we can make a difference to save these fascinating marine mammals from the brink of extinction."
The YoD had several ambassadors, among them several swimmers and sailors, as well as the author of the book "In defense of Dolphins", a book highlighting the complexity and many fascinating aspects of dolphin social structure and behaviour. It focuses on the definition of 'personhood' and the implications this definition has for the classification of dolphins as persons and their legal and moral standing. The book's author is Prof. Thomas White.
The following is the opinion of Welsh NGO Sea Trust:
"In 2006 Sea Trust became aware of the proposed Year of the Dolphin and offered support. We were welcomed as supporters and planned a whole years worth of events and activities in support of the campaign. Our hope of was that YoD would unite small NGO's such as ourselves all around the world and give us the opportunity to support a UN led world wide effort to create an environment of worldwide awareness and condemnation of those who endanger the future of dolphins living free and secure.
Soon after we became uneasy about the partnership of the YoD with sponsor TUI who offer visits to captive cetacean facilities to their clients. At the same time TUI's website featured a dolphinarium in the Dominican Republic. Our point was that TUI were indirectly profiting from the trade in captive dolphins by providing customers for the captive dolphin shows. Dolphins are taken from the wild and sold for 40,000 dollars each to captive dolphin shows around the world. Put simply, ultimately uninformed or gullible tourists pay for these hunts.
TUI may not at the time have been aware of the full implications. Having been informed, we hoped they might make amends, using their considerable influence in the world of mass tourism to clean up this growing threat to wild dolphin populations. Our options were to ignore the problem or try to get something done, especially with regards to TUI claiming to be a company with a green outlook, gaining credibility from our support and that of other NGO's.
No immediate action was taken and we were without any written explanation wiped from the YoD website and the YoD supporters list. The YoD Partners then took credit (I don't think they took sole credit for this, I'm sure your alliance of NGOs had a big role in laying the foundation; however, I suspect a letter from the UN is more likely to elicit action from the DRs president than 100 letters from NGOs; how about calling it synergy..') for "persuading" the Dominican Republic not to take more dolphins from Taiji, when we and other conservation groups made them aware of these issues."
— Cliff Benson, Director Sea Trust www.seatrust.org.uk
(see discussion forum)
Porpoises are small dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and belugas than to the true dolphins. There are eight extant species of porpoise, all among the smallest of the toothed whales. Porpoises are distinguished from dolphins by their flattened, spade-shaped teeth distinct from the conical teeth of dolphins, and lack of a pronounced beak, although some dolphins also lack a pronounced beak. Porpoises, and other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates.
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine environments for feeding and survival.
Risso's dolphin is a dolphin, the only species of the genus Grampus. Some of the closest related species to these dolphins include: pilot whales, pygmy killer whales, melon-headed whales, and false killer whales.
The white-beaked dolphin is a marine mammal belonging to the family Delphinidae in the suborder Odontoceti.
The Chilean dolphin, also known as the black dolphin, is one of four dolphins in the genus Cephalorhynchus. The dolphin is found only off the coast of Chile; it is commonly referred to in the country as tonina.
The common dolphin is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with that distinction belonging to the bottlenose dolphin due to its popular appearances in aquaria and the media. However, the common dolphin is often depicted in Ancient Greek and Roman art and culture, most notably in a mural painted by the Greek Minoan civilization.
The tucuxi, alternatively known in Peru bufeo gris or bufeo negro, is a species of freshwater dolphin found in the rivers of the Amazon basin. The word tucuxi is derived from the Tupi language word tuchuchi-ana, and has now been adopted as the species' common name. Despite being found in geographic locations similar to those of 'true' river dolphins such as the boto, the tucuxi is not closely related to them genetically. Instead, it is classed in the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae).
The striped dolphin is an extensively researched dolphin found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans. It is a member of the oceanic dolphin family, Delphinidae.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), formerly Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the UK, is a wildlife charity that is dedicated solely to the worldwide conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans). It has offices in the UK, North America, Germany and Australia.
Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, pollution, climate change, and the illegal wildlife trade. The IUCN estimates that 42,100 species of the ones assessed are at risk for extinction. Expanding to all existing species, a 2019 UN report on biodiversity put this estimate even higher at a million species. It is also being acknowledged that an increasing number of ecosystems on Earth containing endangered species are disappearing. To address these issues, there have been both national and international governmental efforts to preserve Earth's wildlife. Prominent conservation agreements include the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There are also numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) dedicated to conservation such as the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Wild Animal Health Fund and Conservation International.
Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is informed by the study of marine plants and animal resources and ecosystem functions and is driven by response to the manifested negative effects seen in the environment such as species loss, habitat degradation and changes in ecosystem functions and focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, restoring damaged marine ecosystems, and preserving vulnerable species and ecosystems of the marine life. Marine conservation is a relatively new discipline which has developed as a response to biological issues such as extinction and marine habitats change.
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) or the Bonn Convention, is an international agreement that aims to conserve migratory species throughout their ranges. The agreement was signed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme and is concerned with conservation of wildlife and habitats on a global scale.
Papua New Guinea together with the West Papua region of Indonesia make up a major tropical wilderness area that still contains 5% of the original and untouched tropical high-biodiversity terrestrial ecosystems. PNG in itself contains over 5% of the world's biodiversity in less than 1% of the world's total land area. The flora of New Guinea is unique because it has two sources of origin; the Gondwana flora from the south and flora with Asian origin from the west. As a result, New Guinea shares major family and genera with Australia and the East Asia, but is rich in local endemic species. The endemicity is a result of mountainous isolation, topographic and soil habitat heterogeneity, high forest disturbance rates and abundant aseasonal rainfall year round. PNG boasts some 15–21,000 higher plants, 3,000 species of orchids, 800 species of coral, 600 species of fish, 250 species of mammals and 760 species of birds and 8 species of tree-kangaroos out of which 84 genera of animals are endemic. Ecosystems range from lowland forests to montane forests, alpine flora down to coastal areas which contains some of the most extensive pristine mangrove areas in the world. Much of this biodiversity has remained intact for thousands of years because the ruggedness of the terrain made the interior lands inaccessible; furthermore low population density and restrictions on the effectiveness of traditional tools, ensured that these biodiversity was never overexploited.
Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas, often abbreviated to ASCOBANS, is a regional agreement on the protection of small cetaceans that was concluded as the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas under the auspices of the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species, or Bonn Convention, in September 1991 and came into force in March 1994. In February 2008, an extension of the agreement area came into force which changed the name to “Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas”. ASCOBANS covers all species of toothed whales (Odontoceti) in the Agreement Area, with the exception of the sperm whale.
Marine conservation activism is the efforts of non-governmental organizations and individuals to bring about social and political change in the area of marine conservation. Marine conservation is properly conceived as a set of management strategies for the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Activists raise public awareness and support for conservation, while pushing governments and corporations to practice sound ocean management, create conservation policy, and enforce existing laws and policy through effective regulation. There are many different kinds of organizations and agencies that work toward these common goals. They all are a part of the growing movement that is ocean conservation. These organizations fight for many causes including stopping pollution, overfishing, whaling and by-catching, and supporting marine protected areas.
The Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area, or ACCOBAMS, is a regional international treaty that binds its States Parties on the conservation of Cetacea in their territories. The Agreement aims is to reduce threats to Cetaceans in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as in the contiguous Atlantic area west of the Straits of Gibraltar.
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, and invasive species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List lists the global conservation status of many species, and various other agencies assess the status of species within particular areas. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species which, for example, forbid hunting, restrict land development, or create protected areas. Some endangered species are the target of extensive conservation efforts such as captive breeding and habitat restoration.
Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara is an Italian marine conservation ecologist who has bridged the worlds of marine science, conservation and policy.
The Swiss Cetacean Society or Swiss Society for the Study and Protection of Cetaceans is a Swiss nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of marine mammals and other endangered marine species in their natural habitat. Founded in 1997, its headquarters are in Lausanne in Switzerland.
An unusual mortality event (UME) is a term in United States environmental law that refers to a set of strandings, morbidities, or mortalities of marine mammals that are significant, unexpected, and demanding of an immediate response. While the term is only officially defined in a statute in the US, it has been employed unofficially by cetacean conservation agencies and organizations internationally as well.