Cetacean is one of the most distinctive and highly specialized orders of mammals meant whale, dolphins, and porpoises. They include the largest animal that has ever lived, the blue whale; the highly intelligent and communicative dolphins; the tusked narwhals and blind river dolphins and singing humpback whale, nearly eighty living species in all. Most species are marine but some dolphin species are found in both marine and freshwater such as Irrawaddy dolphin (Organelle brevirostris) which is distributed in near shore tropical and subtropical marine waters, often associated with estuaries and mangrove forest. They also occur far upstream in the Ayeyarwady (formally Irrawaddy) river system of Myanmar, Makhakam river of Indonesia, and Mekong river system of Loa, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

          1. Develop regional inventory of all cetacean namely whale and dolphin found in the Southeast Asian Waters through the cetacean sighting program using SEAFDEC research vessels;

          2. Gather information on the accidentally death of cetacean on the coastal area of the region;,

          3. Gather information on the cetacean sighting program existed in the Southeast Asian countries;

          4. Enhance human resources capacity on the cetacean research works in the region; and

          5. Disseminate information on species distribution in relation to the coastal and marine habitat/ecosystem in the Southeast Asian waters.
          

The project activities will be implemented as follow:

Activity 1 Workshop/Consultation Visit and Preparatory Works on Cetacean Sighting Program

Information gathering for a better understanding of the cetacean species in marine and freshwater in Southeast Asian waters is one of the aims of the project, the organization of the 2^nd Regional Workshop on information collection on cetacean species in the Southeast Asian Waters is planned. The regional experts and participants of the 1^st regional workshop held at TD in 2009 will be generally invited. In addition, follow-up works based on the recommendations from the 1^st Workshop and major findings from the project implementation to date will be discussed and reviewed during the 2^nd Workshop. Under this category, coordination works among relevant initiatives will also be strengthening.

Activities 2 Support Information Gathering/Collection and Actual Survey

Based upon the utilization of the SEAFDEC’s research vessels as requesting by the member countries, including MV SEAFDEC and MV SEAFDEC2, it is envisaged that 2~3 survey cruises per year will be carried out. In this connection, information collection of the stranding cetacean and its abundance during the cruise surveys in collaboration with member countries and other relevant initiatives will be conducted. In addition, the activity under this program will also include the support of SEAFDEC’s staff to join cruise survey by using national research vessels to: (i) carry out the cetacean sighting program, and (ii) exchange knowledge among experts on the cetacean sighting program.

Activity 3 Data Analysis and Information Dissemination

The list of cetacean species and their abundance in the Southeast Asian Waters found during the sighting programs will be analyzed and disseminated. The draft preliminary outcome of the project implementation since 2008 will be summarized and updated.

No	Title	Year	Download
1	Report on The 1st Regional Workshop on Information Gathering and Cetacean Research in the Southeast Asian Waters was organized from 30-31 July 2009 at the Training Department	2009	24 MB.