Since 2018, WWF Peru has conducted experimental trials with dolphin pingers to evaluate the reduction of dolphin bycatch in artisanal fishery gillnets.

WWF is working with partners to respond to the greatest threat to whales, dolphins and porpoises worldwide. Here we highlight collaborative efforts to implement effective policies in the Indian Ocean.

Due to its coastal habitat and tendency to feed near fisheries, the Irrawaddy dolphin is heavily impacted by bycatch. Large numbers of these dolphins are killed by entanglement in gillnets.

WWF Report: Antarctic krill provide carbon storage services worth US$15.2 billion

The theme of this year’s United Nations World Oceans Day on 8 June 2022 is ‘Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean’. We’re highlighting the collective action between WWF’s Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative experts, industry, policy makers and governments around the world to safeguard our ocean giants for a thriving ocean.

Today is Endangered Species Day and we’re highlighting the North Atlantic right whale. With just 336 animals left, they are one of the most endangered whales on the planet. Technological innovation and collaboration between science and fisheries is providing newfound hope for these iconic ocean giants.

Doris Woo of WWF-Hong Kong is working to give Chinese white dolphins the best chance to stabilise and recover.

If their population continues to decline, North Atlantic right whales may go extinct in less than 30 years. While the task is daunting, protecting their blue corridor from these major threats — including dynamic and mandatory vessel slowdowns and reduction of vertical fishing lines — is possible, and critical, to ensuring the survival of this species.

The growing dangers whales face worldwide along these epic journeys are signs of an unhealthy ocean, and reveal how the ocean connects us all.

We need more of these MPAs in the ‘right places’ – where the conservation need is most urgent and where the potential for their contribution for humans and wildlife at its highest.

Last week, experts released a new population estimate for North Atlantic right whales, raising alarm that the iconic species is at the lowest point in about 20 years, numbering only 366 individuals, an 8% decline in one year.

Umair Shahid leads WWF’s tuna fisheries work in the Indian Ocean to protect marine species, including whales and dolphins, from a range of threats including bycatch. Learn more about his work with local fishers.

The Baltic Sea harbour porpoise is facing extinction. Only a few hundred animals are left, and under continued threat from bycatch, environmental contaminants, prey depletion and disturbance from underwater noise.

Hundreds of thousands of endangered marine animals are dying unnecessarily every year as a result of being accidentally caught in fishing nets, according to a new report by WWF and Sky Ocean Rescue.

So-called “ghost gear”, fishing equipment which is lost in the sea, can continue killing marine life for decades or even centuries after it first enters the ocean, making it the most deadly form of marine plastic debris. WWF is calling on governments to develop a legally binding global plastic pollution treaty that addresses this fundamental threat to marine wildlife.