The World Cetacean Alliance was founded on World Oceans Day 2013 to bring together likeminded people and organisations with a shared goal: to protect whales, dolphins, porpoises and their habitats worldwide!
Over the last decade, our alliance has grown to include 120 partners in 35 countries. We’ve spent the last 10 years promoting responsible whale and dolphin watching, empowering communities through our Whale Heritage Site programme, protecting whales from ship strikes with our ‘Becoming Whale Aware’ training course, evolving our sister organisation Sussex Dolphin Project, supporting research and citizen science, and fighting against bycatch with our Dolphins Aren’t Discard campaign.
Today, the need for our alliance is greater than ever, as threats such as marine traffic, plastic pollution, industrial fishing and the climate crisis continue to grow. Cetaceans and the oceans desperately need our help.
As we look ahead to the next 10 years of the WCA, we’re excited to be working on new initiatives to achieve our vision of a world where cetaceans are free, oceans thrive, and communities care.
Together with World Animal Protection, we’ve co-founded the Wildlife Heritage Areas programme, taking the Whale Heritage Site model of community-led conservation and responsible tourism, and expanding it to include other species around the world.
We’re also delighted to announce the opening of a new office in Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand, in addition to the WCA headquarters in Sussex, UK! As a global organisation, having offices in both hemispheres will help us to coordinate more easily to protect whales and dolphins around the world.
In collaboration with WCA Partner E-ko Tours, we’ve launched this new office to maximise opportunities for research and conservation projects. The New Zealand office will also lead on managing our Marine Guide Training programme and provide a meeting space and coordination point for WCA Partners and campaigns in the Southern hemisphere.
At the WCA, we believe that real change comes from working in partnership, whether it’s with individuals, communities, organisations, institutions or governments. Through global collaboration, we can make a difference.
Join us so that, together, we can safeguard cetaceans and the places they call home for generations to come.
Find out more about becoming a WCA Partner or a WCA Ally, or make a donation to support our work.
Image credits: Header photo of a North Atlantic right whale with dolphins by Allison Henry, NOAA (public domain); Killer whale mother and calf by Pixabay (via Pexels).
