In the crystal-blue waters of the Caribbean, something remarkable surfaced. When Stacey Mac Donald, a researcher and a Regional Coordinator at the Caribbean Cetacean Society (CCS), received confirmation of a photo-identification match of a spinner dolphin mother and calf first sighted in Martinique in 2021 and then again in Bonaire in 2024—more than 800 kilometers away—the team had a genuine “wow” moment.

43 new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) have been approved and placed on the map in the North West Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean, as it was announced by the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force on 13 February 2025.