As part of the endorsed International Whaling Commissions Conservation Committee work programme on Anthropogenic Underwater Noise, a questionnaire has been developed to compile global data on marine seismic surveys for hydrocarbon exploration, including ongoing and planned activities for the next five years [2023-2028].
The aim of this questionnaire is to compile information in order to get a sense of the global scale, timing and locations of these activities and identify sensitive areas where there is the potential of impacts to cetaceans from impulsive noise.
The development of this questionnaire was endorsed by the Scientific Committee (SC68D) to address seismic survey impacts and its dissemination was endorsed at IWC68 in 2022.
Governmental agencies, private companies, non-governmental organisations, and research institutions are the target audience for the questionnaire. We would be very grateful if you could distribute the details for this questionnaire to your appropriate Working Groups, Task Groups, members, partners and associates for their input.
All responses can be submitted via the online form found here which will be confidential. Once all information has been collected, a Geographical Information System will be used to map the data, and recommendations will be outlined. A final document will be drafted for distribution to the Conservation and Scientific Committees, and the Commission, in addition to other organisations and bodies.
Please complete the form by 24 March 2023. Please contact the Secretariat (secretariat@iwc.int) with any questions in the interim.
Photo: Mark Ziembicki