Marine Mammal Advisory Group

charter of commitment

The Marine Mammal Advisory Group is a cohort of independent stakeholders established to collaborate on the protection of biodiversity, and to explore solutions to strikes and collisions for the sailing & boating sector.

Established in 2022, MMAG comprises a range of organizations across marine and science sectors.

CORE STRATEGY

MMAG has established a core strategy for marine mammal collision mitigation for the sailing & boating sector, which is based on all the following key areas:

Source & share information
Risk assessment
Live reporting & citizen science
Technical solutions
Education & outreach
Matchmaking solutions with resources

Implementing a comprehensive mitigation strategy is solely the responsibility of the individual stakeholders within the MMAG cohort.

ROLE

While each organization progresses with their respective initiatives on their own timeline, the objective of MMAG is to facilitate:

A common strategy, to ensure a systemic approach to marine mammal strike mitigation, risk assessment and the protection of biodiversity.
Support, knowledge and expertise for specific projects.
Change in the way the marine community approaches, acts on, and communicates biodiversity risks.
A creative commons platform to collate & share, and where relevant disseminate non-confidential information.
Regular meetings and stakeholder events.

COORDINATION

The Marine Mammal Advisory Group is coordinated by a dedicated team from the across the marine sector. MMAG cohort members are welcome to play an active role.

COHORT

MMAG includes a diverse range of organizations, specialists, events, race management, and teams that have either supported, provided, or benefited from the development of the marine mammal mitigation strategies proposed by the organizations in the Marine Mammal Advisory Group.

COMMITMENTS

Through this Charter of Commitment, MMAG welcomes all organizations from the marine science, sailing & boating sectors who are focused on pragmatic action.

Each organization is free to offer as much direct time and support as they are motivated to, this may include but is not limited to: financial support of MMAG or specific projects; actively participating in coordination of MMAG; passively being informed by MMAG; and sharing independent workflows that contribute to the broader strategy.

Specific commitments requested of the MMAG cohort members are:

As Ocean citizens to be ambassadors for Ocean biodiversity.
To be proactive ambassadors of MMAG and the common strategy.
To use your organization’s platform to share historic data, report live sightings and drive citizen science to common databases.
To develop a biodiversity plan relating to your own organization's activities, and responsibilities, considering each element of the strategy.
To ensure that promoting the protection of biodiversity is a primary criterion in the implementation of your organization's initiatives, and any eventual technologies.
To source the most recent, credible information, and scientific interpretation, in the creation and implementation of your organization's initiatives.
To share your learnings and nurture collaboration of initiatives that benefit biodiversity, MMAG cohort members and the wider community.

BRAND & LOGO

Respectful use of the MMAG logo by the MMAG cohort members is encouraged but shall be pre-authorized with the MMAG coordinating team and any use will be consistent with the guidelines provided by this Charter of Commitment.

MMAG cohort members are invited to provide their logo of support.

DATA PROTECTION

Information and data compiled by MMAG and the MMAG cohort complies with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

RESPECT & CONFIDENTIALITY

The opinions and information shared within MMAG by the cohort members shall be communicated with respect to diverse perspectives, pragmatic strategies, best scientific interpretations, and the ideal outcome for biodiversity, boats, and crews.

Information shared with and collected within MMAG is confidential.

Requests for information from MMAG shall be given due consideration, and if authorized, shall be made available only under a strict data sharing agreement. Any shared information and data not already in the public domain is anonymized (unless otherwise agreed in writing), and only provided for the stated purposes, such as scientific research or collision mitigation.

Each MMAG cohort member is required to strictly respect data confidentiality, and where relevant is required to obtain express authorization from identified MMAG cohort member(s) concerned before discussing or sharing any confidential information.

LIMITATIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY

The Marine Mammal Advisory Group (MMAG) is a cohort of independent collaborating stakeholders. Each stakeholder is solely responsible for their own opinions, actions, and services, and shall indemnify and hold harmless MMAG and the MMAG cohort members of the same. MMAG and the MMAG cohort members are not responsible for specific opinions, actions or services offered by other members of the cohort.

INTEGRITY

To ensure the integrity of MMAG, if an unresolved conflict-of-interest arises, MMAG cohort members may be removed from the MMAG group until the compatibility of stakeholders is re-established.

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