Report of the Southern Right Whale Die-Off Workshop

At its 61st Annual Meeting in Madeira in June 2009 the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC SC) received data on exceptionally high mortality ('die-offs') of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in the region of Peninsula Valdes, Argentina, during the period from 2005-08 (Uhart et al., 2008; 2009). It recommended that a Steering Committee be formed (R.L. Brownell, Jr. [Convener], V. Rowntree, T. Rowles, M. Uhart and H.C. Rosenbaum) to plan a workshop in 2011 to review possible causes and impacts of this mortality and to identify future research needs. By August 2009 it had become clear that another year of high mortality was underway (see the following paragraph) and the Steering Committee, in consultation with the IWC Head of Science (Greg Donovan), decided to hold the Workshop in the first quarter of 2010.