WDCS Programmes to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises

Driven from safety, hunted, tortured, killed, captured, blasted by noise and poisoned by man's carelessness and deliberate cruelty- whales and dolphins face more threats than ever before. We campaign for an end to these threats, including whaling, fisheries bycatch, captivity and environmental impacts such as pollution and climate change. Our US team are particularly focused on:

Stopping whale killing and trade – International Program Lead Sue Fisher
WDCS opposes the killing of whales for commercial use because it is inhumane, unsustainable, impossible to regulate and unnecessary. Led by Sue Fisher, our team of technical experts is at the forefront of international efforts to end whaling and trade in whale products for good. In North America, we focus on ensuring that the US government remains a strong and active opponent of commercial whaling; ensuring that Inuit subsistence whale hunts in Alaska and Canada are properly managed, humane and sustainable; deterring American tourists from buying souvenirs made from whale products, and working with the jojoba industry to ensure that spermaceti never again replaces jojoba in cosmetics. WDCS is a board member of the Species Survival Network (SSN), an coalition of over 80 conservation and welfare groups worldwide working to protect species from over-exploitation by international trade. Sue chairs SSN’s Whale and Dolphin Working Group, spearheading efforts to protect specific species from trade threats, and bring improvements to the implementation and enforcement of international laws.

Stopping Captivity – Regional Program Lead Courtney Vail
Captivity is a process that holds both conservation and welfare implications for whales and dolphins. Although public display, or captivity, is prevalent in the US, WDCS is committed to providing the American public with the truths and realities behind this industry. From a welfare perspective, WDCS does not believe that the social, physical and psychological needs of cetaceans can ever be met in captivity. From a conservation perspective, captivity is responsible for direct mortality in the wild as dolphins are corralled and captured for zoos and aquariums. Many often die in this process, and populations are left fractured or and destroyed as individual animals are captured and shipped to different facilities nationally and internationally. In North America, we are challenging facilities not to import wild caught dolphins by opposing trade in these animals, educating the public about the realities of captivity, developing education programs in the Caribbean focused on the message that dolphins should ‘live free in the sea’, and confronting dolphin petting pools and swim-with-the-dolphin programs.

Stopping Vessel Strikes – International Program Lead Regina Asmutis–Silvia
WDCS works to reduce vessel strikes all around the world, including in areas where whales or dolphins are particularly vulnerable, such as the East Coast of the United States. Here, the future existence of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales is in jeopardy, partly, due to vessel strikes. As a member of a coalition with Defenders of Wildlife, Humane Society of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Ocean Conservancy, WDCS has recently facilitated the release of a rule to slow ships along the east coast of the United States reducing the risk of vessel strikes to North Atlantic right whales. In addition: we are developing international protocols for blue ocean sailing vessels to reduce the risk of strikes and increase reporting when strikes do occur; educating recreational boaters about safely operating their vessels in the vicinity of whales through See A Spout, Watch Out!; and conducting research in the Turks and Caicos, an area of high cruise ship activity, to determine the risk of strikes to vulnerable mother and calf humpbacks in their breeding range.

Stopping Fishing Gear Entanglement – Program Lead Regina Asmutis-Silvia
WDCS works to reduce the risk of fishing gear entanglement to large whales and dolphins along the East Coast of the United States. WDCS acknowledges it is not the intent of the fishermen to harm whales or dolphins, but it is often a devastating side effect of specific fisheries. While some animals die immediately as a result of the entanglement, many large whales carry gear on them for years, slowly dying as a result of infection or starvation. As a Conservation Representative on the federally appointed Atlantic Large Whale, Atlantic Trawl Gear and Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Teams, WDCS works directly with fishermen, scientists and State and Federal agencies to develop plans that reduce the risk of entanglement to impacted whales. WDCS has recently partnered with the State of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and Ocean Conservancy to support the use of sinking line by Massachusetts Lobstermen, a type of gear that reduces the risk of entanglement to large whales.

Find our more about our international work to STOP threats for good

WDCS believes that every whale and dolphin is important and deserving of protection We safeguard their communities, populations and whole species. We support ground breaking scientific research and conservation projects and push for better protection for whales and dolphins by countries around the world. Here is the US we are currently:

Protecting whales and dolphins in the Caribbean Region - Program Lead: Courtney Vail
Whales and dolphins are an integral part of the waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. For many species, these waters serve as primary habitat for a range of critical activities including feeding, mating, and calving. Thirty-one cetacean species have been documented from the region. As a result, WDCS addresses the threats and impacts within this politically and ecologically important region through its Regional Seas program focusing on five target areas: policy formation, regulatory and protective measures, increase in scientific knowledge, improvement of law and its application, and enhancement of public understanding. WDCS works with local and regional partners to develop and implement its programs to target specific threats in the region. In addition, we are active participants in the SPAW Protocol (Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife) of the Cartagena Convention, one of the most important tools to address the preservation of biodiversity within the Caribbean. Through SPAW, WDCS is working to develop marine mammal action plans to support capacity building initiatives to enable parties to address threats to whales and dolphins on a local basis.

Protecting North Atlantic Right Whales - Program Lead Regina Asmutis-Silvia
WDCS is working to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. With fewer than 400 animals known to remain, the survival of each individual is vitally important to ensure the survival of this species. Since 1986, at least half of the known mortalities to this species have resulted from human-induced causes including entanglements in fishing gear and ship strikes. The rate of these tragic deaths may be on the increase. WDCS represents a conservation seat on the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and is a member of the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network. We are dedicated to working with fishermen, vessel operators and all stake holders to reduce the risk of entanglement and ship strikes to these magnificent creatures.

Protecting Humpback Whales - Program Lead: Regina Asmutis-Silvia
WDCS is working to ensure the protection of all humpback whales, including those animals that are part of the Whale Adoption Project Family. Working with commercial whale watch operators and regional research organizations, WDCS collects photographs and sightings data and curates a catalogue of more than 2,000 individually identified humpbacks from the Gulf of Maine feeding stock. Through these data WDCS is able to document the health of the population by monitoring calving rates, serious injuries and mortalities to this population. In addition, WDCS conducts research in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a prospective breeding area for whales from the Western North Atlantic. In this area, WDCS collects sighting data of humpback whales, potential threats from vessel strikes, and monitors the health of their habitat through water sampling.

Protecting Dolphins - Program Lead: Courtney Vail
In the US, dolphins face a myriad of threats; including death in fishing nets, prey depletion due to over fishing, pollution, harmful noise disturbance, collision with vessels andhabitat loss. In addition, a series of unusual mortality events (UMEs), resulting in massive die-offs of some dolphin species, have occurred in the past several decades on the east, western and Gulf coasts of the US. Causes of these massive die-offs have included infections, biotoxins, human interactions and malnutrition. To mitigate these threats, WDCS works closely with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (and their ‘Protect Dolphins’ campaign, is a founding partner of Dolphin SMART, supports field research to assess the health of local dolphin populations in the US, and is a participant in the Florida Consortium for Minimizing Human Impacts on Wild Dolphins where diverse stakeholders are working to tackle harassment and fishery-interactions issues in the southeastern US.

Find our more about our international work to PROTECT species and places

Our shared passion and vision is making the future a safer place for whales and dolphins. It is only by building on our connections - individual, national and international - that we can bring about change. We bring the world of whales and dolphins alive for people through education initiatives and responsible whale and dolphin watching.

WDCS places a priority not only on informing the public, but educating the public by engaging directly with adults and children alike across the globe. In the US, educational initiatives range from school talks and presentations at local and regional community events, to working with grassroots organizations to develop education programs that can be implemented on the ground and incorporating local knowledge. Through these projects we connect with people who will play a part in bringing about positive environmental change. At all levels of the education system, we work to ensure that as many students as possible have access to relevant information about whales and dolphins, the threats they face, and their environment. In the past year, WDCS has: cosponsored two lecture series; provided educational materials to several commercial whale watch companies in Massachusetts reaching more than 100,000 passengers; worked with seven interns from four different countries; and visited local schools reaching more than 1100 students.

Find our more about our international work to CONNECT with people to bring about change