International Whaling Commission’s Bycatch Mitigation Initiative

For more than forty years the IWC, as the leading global body addressing cetacean science and conservation has acknowledged the significance of bycatch as a threat to cetaceans. This recognition led to an agreement by the IWC Commission at its 66th meeting to establish the Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI).

The BMI is made up of three interrelated components;
• a Bycatch Coordinator in the IWC Secretariat
• the Standing Working Group (SWG) on Bycatch under the IWC’s Conservation Committee (CC)
• a multi-disciplinary Expert Panel to advise the Coordinator and the SWG.

The overall aim of the BMI is to raise awareness on the need for action on cetacean bycatch at both national and international levels and to promote the use of effective tools to understand and tackle the issue. To be fully effective the BMI will need to work closely with experts from multiple disciplines and other international frameworks and organisations which have established the mandate to manage fisheries.