Indian Ocean Cetacean Symposium begins in Maldives

19 July 2009
Ahmed Naish

The Indian Ocean Cetacean Symposium (IOCS), attended by scientists and researchers from across the world, commenced at Paradise Island Resort and Spa yesterday.

The symposium on cetaceans, the collective name for whales, porpoises and dolphins, was officially inaugurated by Vice-President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik at a function organised by the marine research centre.

Speaking to Minivan News, Dr Charles Anderson, a biologist working with the centre, said the rediscovery of a new species of whale will be announced at the symposium.

“It’s not strictly a new discovery,” he said. “It was discovered but then forgotten.”

Dr Anderson said he first came across the species in a tourist shop in Male’ and sent a small sample for DNA analysis.

“It wasn’t very big, just 16 feet long. It was washed up in an island in Raa atoll and brought to Male' for display,” he said.

The whale was first discovered by a Sri Lankan scientist in 1963, but was mistakenly categorised as a similar species that had been discovered a decade earlier.

Dr Anderson said he had examined the Sri Lankan skeleton and found that it was the same as the one in Male’.

An Australian scientist, an authority in the field of cetacean research, will publish a paper on the rediscovery later this year, he said.

The symposium is set to take place from 18 to 20 July.

In his introductory remarks at the function, Dr Mohamed Shiham Adam, director general at the centre, said 2009 marked 30 years for the Indian Ocean Sanctuary.

“This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the marine research centre, a small section formed within the fisheries ministry 25 years ago this week,” he said.

Shiham said fishermen in the Maldives looked to dolphins to locate large schools of yellow fin tuna, the export of which account for more than 30 per cent of the country's marine export earnings.

The capture of cetaceans has been banned in the Maldives since 1993, he said.

Addressing the symposium, Tourism Minister Ahmed Sawad said tourism in the Maldives had a very delicate relationship with the environment.

“We are in the process of formulating regulations that will ensure that the relationship between industry, the environment and the common man is built on a sustainable platform,” he said.

Dr Sawad referred to a conservation project in Baa atoll for whale sharks and manta rays, adding that the government had put a stop to a development project in the atoll after an advance payment had been made by investors.

In his speech, Dr Waheed, the chief guest, said he was happy to welcome two “legendary figures” in cetacean research, Dr Sidney Holt and Dr Roger Payne, who were instrumental in establishing the Indian Ocean Sanctuary.

“Although we are not an IWC (International Whaling Commission) member, we wholeheartedly support the IOS (Indian Ocean Sanctuary), its aims and its continuation,” he said.

The Maldives has never been a whaling nation, he continued, but foreign fishermen had hunted whales in its waters.

In the 19th century, Herman Melville, the celebrated author of Moby Dick, wrote a poem called the “Maldive Shark”, he said.

Dr Anderson said a declaration for the continuation of the Indian Ocean Sanctuary was on the agenda of the symposium.

Thousands of dolphins were being killed in the Indian Ocean, he said, and the declaration, if passed, would call for the conservation of the species.

Dolphins were a migratory species, he continued, and the aim of the symposium was to highlight research on the subject and allow scientists to share their findings.

“The purpose of the symposium is to encourage scientists to collaborate on research," he said.

All whales and dolphins are protected in Maldivian waters, and as a result of banning all pelagic gill-net and purse-seine fishing, there is no direct or incidental catch of cetaceans, according to the marine research centre website.

"The Maldives is a sanctuary within the Sanctuary,” it reads.


http://www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=6923