INTRODUCTION

There is a list of documented records of marine mammals observed or stranded on one or more of the Dutch islands (Debrot et al., 1998). Since 2002, George Kieffer and staff of Curacao Dolphin Academy have been observing and documenting numerous species of cetaceans in the waters of Curacao. This work helped to establish which species are present and provided evidence of seasonal residency patterns among bottlenose dolphins.

However, while we have some idea of which species of whales and dolphins live in our waters, we know very little of how they live, how many there are, which of them only pass through our waters on migratory routes, let alone where they go. We do not know what the impact might be of pollution or underwater noise or fisheries on the whales and dolphins in our waters. In short, we do not know the needs of our whales and dolphins. Effective conservation measures will need to be based on such knowledge; consequently, research is considered to be the first priority for action.

The research activities of SCCN are based on the priorities identified in the Marine Mammal Action Plan (MMAP) for the Wider Caribbean. This MMAP was adopted by all the countries in the Caribbean that make up the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol, an international agreement to protect the biodiversity of the Caribbean region.