Every year WDC produces or commissions a number of reports on a variety of issues concerning whales and dolphins. Below are a selection of our publications in pdf format. Where copyright restrictions preclude this please contact us for further information on a report's availability.
In addition to the reports highlighted below, WDC staff around the world are actively publishing peer-reviewed scientific papers, presenting posters and talks at conferences and submitting papers to meetings of a variety of international fora.
Annual Review
WDC audited accounts and financial review for 2021/2022 (2023)
WDC Annual Review 2022 - Celebrating what you have helped us achieve in the past year (2023)
Captivity
El cautiverio de cetáceos en Latinoamérica y el Caribe (2021)
A vision for whales and dolphins in tourism (2020)
Dolphin Assisted Therapy: Can you put your faith in DAT? (2007)
Driven-by-demand (2006)
Biting the Hand that Feeds - the case against petting pools (2003)
Captive Orcas - ‘Dying to Entertain You’ (2001)
Climate Crisis
Whales - Their future is our future (2021)
Offshore wind farms and marine mammals: Impacts and methodologies for assessing impacts (2008)
An update on the extent of marine renewable energy developments in the Northeast Atlantic (2008)
Whales in hot water (2007)
Ocean acidification (2006)
Marine wind farms and cetaceans (2003)
Fisheries
Bycatch mitigation for the Baltic proper harbour porpoise: What to do if pingers are not an option? (2023)
An evaluation of cetacean bycatch in UK fisheries: problems and solutions (2021)
Towards an EU Action Plan on Cetacean Bycatch (2016)
ECS Resolution: The need to better monitor & mitigate european marine mammal bycatch (2016)
The Price of Fish - A review of cetacean bycatch in fisheries in the north-east Atlantic (2011)
The Animal Welfare Implications of Cetacean Deaths in Fisheries (2008)
Shrouded by the Sea: The animal welfare implications of bycatch in fisheries - a summary document (2008)
Legislation
Myth and Momentum: A Critique of Environmental Impact Assessments (2013)
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
The necessity of Management Options for effective harbour porpoise conservation in the UK (2015)
Making space for UK porpoises, dolphins and whales (2013)
Pollution
Message in a bottle - The shocking impact of plastic pollution and how we can reverse it. (published with support from Brita, 2021. Last updated Nov 22)
Marine Debris and Cetaceans (2011)
Oceans of Noise (2004)
Species
South American River Dolphin Action Plan (2010)
The Conservation of British Cetaceans (2007)
Into the Brains of Whales (2007)
Strandings
ECS Workshop on Best Practice in Rescue (2013)
Joint NGO Corkscrew response (2013)
Vessel Collisions
Vessel collisions and cetaceans: What happens when they don’t miss the boat (2008)
Welfare
Report on UK Marine Mammals Welfare Workshop (2020)
Whale Watching
A Guide to Responsible Whale Watching (2019)
Whale-watching: More than meets the Eyes (2013)
A review of whale watch guidelines and regulations around the world (2008)
The State of Whale Watching in Latin America (2008)
Russia Whale Watching Guide (2006)
European Whale Watching Guide (2003)
Whaling
Opinion survey into attitudes towards whaling and whalemeat consumption in Norway (2019)
Slayed in Iceland - The commercial hunting and international trade in endangered fin whales (2014)
Whale for Sale (2014)
Greenland's expanding commercial whaling (2012)
Breaking Ranks - Denmark goes it alone on whaling policy (2012)
Sink or Swim : The Economics of Whaling Today (2009)
Japanese small type whaling (2009)
Whaling: defying international commitments to animal welfare? (2008)
Iceland, whaling and ecosystem-based fishery management (2008)
Animal welfare in Norway: an inconsistent truth (2007)
The RMS – A question of confidence? (2005)
Welfare-implications-of-modern-whaling (2004)
Troubled Waters - A review of the welfare implications of modern whaling activities (2003)