Iran’s reporting network yields valuable records of Bryde’s whales
Bryde's whales (Balaenoptera edeni) sighting In recent news from the region, two baleen whales were spotted by fishermen; Mr. Meysam Sajadi Far and Amir Jamshidiat from Kangan, at two different locations in the Persian* Gulf on the 20th and 21st of June 2023. The fishermen shared photos and videos of ...
Arabian Sea Whales at the 2023 IWC Scientific Committee Meeting
This year the annual IWC Scientific Committee (SC) meeting was held in Bled, Slovenia between the 24th April and the 6th May 2023. A few ASWN members had the opportunity to attend the meeting in person or virtually, including Gianna Minton, Andrew Willson, Sal Cerchio, Tim Collins, Aida al Jabri ...
Workshop in Oman brings stakeholders together to discuss conservation management of Endangered Arabian Sea Humpback Whales
Press release issued by the Environment Society of Oman (ESO) Muscat, 28th November 2022 – A workshop focused on the protection of Arabian Sea humpback whales was organized in a collaboration between the Environment Authority (EA) and the Environment Society of Oman (ESO), with funding provided by HSBC Oman. The ...
ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY OF OMAN PARTNERS WITH HSBC OMAN FOR WHALE CONSERVATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMMES
Press release shared by ASWN partner, the Environment Society of Oman (ESO): In recent weeks, the ESO signed a two-year sponsorship agreement with HSBC Bank Oman to support its efforts towards the conservation of the Arabian Sea humpback whale. Under the partnership, ESO will carry out two new projects; a ...
Successful release of an entangled humpback whale in Duqm Port, Oman
On the evening of January 18th, 2021, staff at the Environment Authority – Oman (EA) were notified that an Endangered Arabian Sea humpback whale had been observed entangled in fishing gear inside the Port of Duqm. This information was shared with the Oman Stranding Network. The whale had apparently been ...
New population of blue whales discovered in the western Indian Ocean!
Several ASWN members have been involved in the discovery and description of a new blue whale song, that defines a unique population of blue whales in the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean. The official press release is copied here below, and a link to the newly published paper in ...
New resources related to Important Marine Mammal Areas in the Arabian Sea
The IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task force has recently updated and upgraded several features on the IMMA e-Atlas. The e-Atlas includes a number of sites in the Arabian Sea, but now also includes a host of new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs), candidate IMMAS (cIMMAs), and Areas of Interest ...
Arabian Sea whales at the 2020 virtual IWC Scientific Committee Meeting
Arabian Sea whales once again featured prominently in discussions of the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee, which was held between May 11th and 24th, 2020. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place in Cambridge, UK, but for obvious reasons had to shift to a virtual format instead. In order ...
New evidence for movement of Arabian Sea humpback whales between Oman and India
On December 21st, 2019, scuba divers near Netrani Island off the west coast of India (State of Karnataka) encountered something extraordinary while travelling to their dive site: a humpback whale. The dive masters from Dive Goa, Absolute SCUBA India and West Coast Adventures knew this sighting was special, because they ...
37 Important Marine Mammal Areas identified in the Western Indian Ocean and Arabian Seas
In early December 2019, scientists announced the approval of 37 new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) in one of the more ecologically rich, yet conservation challenged areas of the worlds oceans—the Western Indian Ocean and Arabian Seas. The new IMMAs highlight key habitats for various threatened marine mammal species, including ...
