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 eighth 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 Pacific (last covered in 2004)
We are asking for submissions of information that in your
opinion merit inclusion in this report. This should primarily include
information on events from 2007, 2008 and the months of 2009 before the
submission deadline, although earlier data may be submitted if relevant over the
long term. You may submit information in two ways:
1. Send an email to one of the SOCER editors (see contact
information below) and include relevant scientific paper(s) as an attachment;
2. Use the standardised form for data entry, which can be
downloaded from
http://www.iwcoffice.org/SCWEB/socer.htm. 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
regarding inclusion in the SOCER. If an event or development does not fit the
format of the form, but you nonetheless believe it warrants inclusion, please
specify this in Item VIII. Any relevant scientific papers should be submitted
with the submission form or otherwise drawn to the attention of the editors.
With few exceptions, only information stemming from
published scientific papers and reports or other authoritative sources can be
accepted. However, any supporting documentation for an event or development –
such as news items – may also be submitted with the form.
The deadline for submissions for the 2009 SOCER is: 15
April 2009.
The SOCER will also contain a glossary
of technical terms. 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 at 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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