The Environment Authority of Oman recently convened a national workshop to strengthen the country’s preparedness and coordination in responding to marine mammal and sea turtle strandings. Bringing together members of the National Task Force for Studying Marine Mammal and Turtle Strandings and representatives from key partner organizations, the workshop marked an important step towards improving the country’s coordinated response to stranding events.

As home to the world’s only population of Arabian Sea humpback whales, Oman plays a critical role in the conservation of one of the world’s most endangered whale populations. Effective and timely responses to strandings provide valuable scientific information, improve animal welfare where live strandings occur, and help identify the threats affecting turtles and marine mammals along Oman’s coastline.

Over the course of the workshop, participants reviewed the current structure and response protocols of the national stranding response network, with a focus on strengthening communication, clarifying responsibilities, and standardizing field procedures. Discussions covered every stage of the response process, from receiving reports and coordinating field teams to data collection, documentation, data management, and technical reporting.

The workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on lessons learned from previous stranding events, identify operational challenges, and discuss the training and equipment needed to further strengthen national response capacity.

Key outcomes of the workshop included:

• Approval of an updated organizational structure for the National Stranding Task Force.
• Clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of participating agencies.
• Development of a standardized mechanism for receiving reports and coordinating responses.
• Agreement on unified field protocols for documentation, data collection and management.
• Identification of future training, technical, and equipment requirements.
• Development of an implementation roadmap to guide the continued strengthening of the national response network.

Strengthening stranding response capacity is a key component of marine mammal conservation. Every stranding event provides an opportunity to better understand species distribution, health, causes of mortality, and emerging threats such as fisheries interactions, ship strikes, disease, and marine pollution. Robust response networks also improve collaboration between government agencies, researchers, veterinarians, and local communities.

This is particularly true in the case of  Arabian Sea humpback whales, of which  fewer than 100 individuals are believed to remain, and every stranding record can provide valuable information to guide conservation and management decisions.

The workshop represents another significant step towards strengthening regional conservation efforts and aligns closely with the objectives of the Joint IWC-CMS Conservation Management Plan for Arabian Sea Humpback Whales, which recognizes coordinated stranding response, data sharing, and capacity building as essential components for the long-term conservation of this unique population.