On June 4 and 5 the Caribbean Marine Mammal Sanctuaries Initiative (Caribbean MAMAS), a group of countries (France, Dominican Republic, the USA and The Netherlands) with marine mammal (whales and dolphins) sanctuaries or sanctuaries under development together with the Regional Activity Center (RAC) of the SPAW (Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife) Protocol, met on St. Maarten together with marine park managers and marine mammal experts, to discuss how they will be cooperating for conservation of marine mammals (whales, dolphins and manatees). The group reaffirmed their intention to work together, guided by the Marine Mammal Action Plan of the SPAW Protocol, and to embark on a number of joint actions listed in an Action Plan. The group also invites all other countries in the region who are interested to join the group. The participants were all extremely happy with the outcomes of the workshop, which has now firmly established the partnership.
The group of marine mammals sanctuaries first came together at the International Convention for Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICMMPA 2) in Martinique in November last year where a Declaration of Intent was signed outlining the fields of cooperation the partnership would undertake. This workshop on St. Maarten was intended to discuss how the cooperation could best be realized and to identify specific actions on which to work together. Several of the Sanctuaries already have or are working on bilateral so-called Sister Sanctuary agreements. The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary first made such an agreement with the Dominican Republic Sanctuary because humpback whales spend the summer in the north on the Stellwagen Bank in Massachusetts but in winter they migrate to the Caribbean concentrating especially on the Silver Banks where thousands of humpback whales congregate, from all over the Northern Atlantic. The Humpback whales can also be found around other islands in the Caribbean, including the Dutch and the French islands, and those countries are also working on similar Sister Sanctuary agreements with Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and with the Dominican Republic Sanctuary.
At the meeting the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) informed the other partners that it intends to establish a Caribbean Netherlands Marine Mammal Sanctuary, before the end of this year. The French 'Agoa' Sanctuary and the Dutch Caribbean islands had already been working together on surveys for marine mammals around the French and Dutch Windward islands in March, including St. Maarten and also the Saba Bank, and the meeting was informed about some surprising preliminary results of that survey. Many Humpback Whales were heard singing on the Saba Bank and in the deep channel between Saba and St. Maarten numerous Sperm Whales were recorded. It was agreed that this successful joint survey work will be continued in October of this year and in 2013 another survey will be undertaken starting in the Dutch ABC islands and then up through the arc of Eastern Caribbean islands all the way up via the French islands to the Dutch windward islands. This expedition will also include outreach on the various islands to inform the communities on the work being done and the marine mammals around their islands. Participants in this expedition will also be invited from Venezuela and the various Eastern Caribbean islands.
Other actions agreed on during the meeting were the set-up of a regional network of acoustic underwater listening posts spread out among the partners to get records of songs and other sounds produced by whales and dolphins, but also to quantify the underwater noise generated by human activities all over the region in order to assess the impact of such noise pollution, not only from ships, seismic explorations, but also from recreational noise from speedboats, jet skis and such. Because the Caribbean has one of the highest shipping densities in the world, interactions between ships and whales must be better studied. Stakeholders from the shipping authorities will also be invited to join in this work. The group further agreed to exchange expertise and build capacity by mutual participation in joint work, training in stranding response and disentanglement of marine mammals, standardization of methods and sharing of marine mammal data.
The participants all expressed their appreciation of the Dutch Ministry of EL&I for hosting this meeting with logistical help of the Nature Foundation St. Maarten. Everyone found the workshop extremely useful and the partners decided that they will meet at least once every year to discuss progress and new actions.