Thirty-six new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) have been uploaded to the IMMA e-Atlas. They are located in the South East Tropical and Temperate Pacific Ocean from northern Mexico to the southern tip of Chile, and are the result of an intensive week-long workshop in San José, Costa Rica (June 2022). Besides the 36 new IMMAs, five areas also considered at the workshop have been kept as candidate IMMAs (cIMMAs) requiring further work for approval, and 11 areas have been assigned Area of Interest (AoI) status.
The results from the Costa Rica workshop mean that IMMA coverage is now two-thirds of the world ocean. There are now 209 IMMAs globally, mostly in the southern hemisphere, all with portfolios, maps and other background information on the IMMA e-Atlas.
The IMMA work continues to forge ahead in the Southwest Atlantic with a workshop planned for December 2022 and a further workshop targeting the Northeast Atlantic to be held in May 2023.