SOLICITATION LETTER TO POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THE STATE OF THE CETACEAN ENVIRONMENT REPORT (SOCER)
This letter is a call for submissions to enable us to produce
a draft State of the Cetacean Environment Report (SOCER) for consideration by
the IWC’s Scientific Committee. It will be the seventh SOCER produced. The
ultimate objective is to provide Commissioners (in response to Resolution
2000-7) and other interested parties with a non-technical periodic summary of
events, developments and conditions in the marine environment that are relevant
to cetaceans. Such developments might range from unusual mortalities to new
legislation protecting marine habitats.
The report is compiled on an annual basis, with
pre-selected regions to be treated each year. These regions include:
Mediterranean and Black Seas; North and South Atlantic; North and South Pacific;
Arctic and Southern Ocean; and Indian Ocean. Each report also contains a brief
Global section.
This year will be devoted to the North and South
Atlantic (last covered in 2003).
We are asking for submissions of
information that in your opinion merit inclusion. This should primarily include
information on events from 2006, 2007 and the months of 2008 before the
submission deadline, although earlier data may be submitted if relevant over the
long term. You may submit information in two ways:
- Send an email to one of the SOCER editors (see contact information
below) and include relevant scientific paper(s) as an attachment;
- Use the standardised form for data entry, which can be downloaded from
HERE. Please
fill out all the relevant fields. Any additional information provided (see item
VIII: ‘additional information and remarks’) will assist the
editorial decision-making process. Events or developments that do not fit the
format of the form but nonetheless warrant inclusion should be specified under
Item VIII as well.
With few exceptions, only
information stemming from published scientific papers and reports or other
authoritative sources can be accepted. Please submit the relevant scientific
papers (or full references) to the editors. Supporting documentation – such as
news items – may also be submitted.
The deadline for submissions for
the 2008 SOCER is: 25 March 2008.
The SOCER will also contain a glossary of technical terms
and a literature analysis of all cetacean-related papers published over the last
year. The draft version of this report will be written by the principal SOCER
editors (Michael Stachowitsch, Chris Parsons, and Naomi Rose) and circulated as
a Scientific Committee document in advance of the Scientific Committee meeting,
where its content will be evaluated. Please note that, due to editorial
considerations (succinct format for Commissioners), not all submissions may be
incorporated (or incorporated in full) into the SOCER.
We would greatly appreciate your input
into this endeavour, which we intend to be a useful contribution to
international understanding, particularly at the policy level, of cetaceans and
their changing environment.
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