28 March 2025: 32nd NAMMCO Annual Meeting – Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Sustainable and Responsible Marine Mammal Management
At NAMMCO’s 32nd Annual Council Meeting, held from 25 to 27 March at the Fram Centre in Tromsø, Norway, the focus was on marine mammal welfare and on the various projects led by NAMMCO. Member countries reaffirmed their commitment to the sustainable use of marine mammals, best animal welfare outcomes, and evidence-based conservation and management, supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Animal Welfare: A Central Commitment for NAMMCO
NAMMCO is committed to contributing to the efficiency of marine mammal hunting, with the best possible welfare outcomes and hunters’ safety. The opening of the 32nd Annual Council Meeting featured an overview of the Marine Mammal Welfare Workshop that took place on the preceding day. At the workshop, various perspectives on the state of welfare outcomes and ways to improve practices were presented. Participants included hunters, veterinarians, and managers from the NAMMCO member countries, Finland, Japan, Nunavik, Nunavut, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sweden, and Åland. The importance of sharing knowledge and experiences was strongly emphasised. For more information on the Welfare Workshop click here.
Obtaining Essential Information for Well-Grounded Management of Cetaceans: NASS 2024 and MINTAG
The most recent North Atlantic Sightings Survey (NASS) took place in the summer 2024. Started in 1987, this 37-year long NASS series constitutes a unique opportunity for obtaining crucial data and long-term trends on abundance and distribution of whales and dolphins in the North Atlantic. The 2024 survey covered an area of over 4,500,000 km2. These data are essential to foster sustainable management and a better understanding of the impacts of environmental changes.
The Miniature Tag Project (MINTAG), a cooperation between NAMMCO member countries and Japan, aims at developing smaller tags to study the movements and stock structure of lesser known and difficult to tag species (fin, sei, minke, and pilot whales). 2024 was the second year of tag deployments and the improvements made showed promising results in being able to follow minke and fin whale migration. For more details, visit the MINTAG website here.
Engaging Youth in Safeguarding the Marine Environment
The project ‘GUARDNA–Guardians of the North Atlantic: Looking after our Seas to Conserve Marine Mammals’ launched in autumn 2023 was presented to the Council. The project is supported by NovoNordisk, the Working Group for Fisheries under the Nordic Council of Ministers, and NAMMCO. This three-year international project is developing an open access marine educational portal with appealing and playful materials. The aim is to spark curiosity and interest of children and young adults in ocean sustainability and the conservation of marine mammals. The materials will be available in English, Faroese, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Norwegian, Northern Sámi, and Danish.
The agenda, list of participants, and documents for the Council meeting can be found here.
Photo: Fernando Ugarte