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Multiple and cumulative anthropogenic threats are having an increasing impact on cetacea around the world. While the International Whaling Commission actively manages the twelve great whales, there are few small cetacean-specific regimes. The complexity of threats and the geopolitical ranges these animals inhabit makes an all-encompassing international regime difficult to consider at this stage. Regional agreements under frameworks such as the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals offer a viable alternative. This article explores the efficacy of a regional agreement over the Indian Ocean and associated seas to protect small cetacea from the full range of anthropogenic threats they face. It also advances the proposition that such an agreement would be a valuable step towards global cetacean conservation, through a network of interconnected regional agreements, but also through greater regional cooperation and domestic capacity for marine management.
