Presenting the Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) story in graphic form

Meet Frozen – a humpback whale who migrates between Brazil’s Abrolhos Archipelago IMMA and South Georgia IMMA who was left permanently scarred after surviving a ship strike. She and other whales and marine mammals like her need more protection for their habitats in the sea.

But where in the ocean needs protecting? How can we make lasting effective change?

In 2013, the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force was set up to address this problem. Before long, hundreds of scientists and researchers joined to help.

Now, in October 2025, we are pleased to present MAKING SPACE: The story of Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) and how they help to protect whale habitats. This clear, concise pictorial guide to the IMMA tool aims to spread the information about the spatial conservation of whale, dolphin and other marine mammal habitats across the global ocean. Comics artist Rozi Hathaway has worked closely with Task Force co-chair Erich Hoyt to produce this handy visual presentation that tells the story of how the IMMA tool and IMMA e-Atlas came to be and how we can all use IMMAs to help to make a healthier ocean for whales and humans.

MAKING SPACE: The story of Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) and how they help to protect whale habitats, by Rozi Hathaway and Erich Hoyt, 40 pages. Available in PDF or printed form.