Over the past 18 months, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has been developing the Virginia Marine Mammal Conservation Plan. This work is important for a number of reasons—it will guide DWR and its partners in conservation and management of these protected species in Virginia; it will supplement the revision of our congressionally-mandated state Wildlife Action Plan, which describes species of greatest conservation need and conservation actions important to those species; and it will be integrated into the Virginia Ocean Plan being developed under the leadership of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program. Funding from the Virginia CZM program has made this important planning work possible, and we appreciate the longstanding partnership between our programs.
We have reached the point in our process where we are soliciting external review of the draft Conservation Plan. The Plan is laid out in the following format:
- species descriptions (status, distribution, diet, etc. in Virginia);
- existing management structure and responsibilities;
- limiting factors;
- conservation strategy (goals, specific strategies and explicit actions that address limiting factors)
We are requesting that you provide any comments to DWR by Friday, August 1, 2025. We are seeking comments on the Conservation Strategy section that begins on page 74. Please refer to the other sections when questions arise.
Please email Megan Perdue (megan.perdue1@dwr.virginia.gov) or Susan Barco (susan.barco@dwr.virginia.gov) with any questions.
Thank you in advance for time you’re able to provide in review of the draft and your comments in response. We value our collaboration with each of you in the conservation of these species.