About 40 experts will arrive in Bunbury in April to attend the meeting of the International Whaling Commission, an organisation set up to provide for the conservation of whale stocks.

The conference, which is expected to put the Dolphin Discovery Centre on the international map, will be the first step in setting up and designing a global research project that Bunbury could play an integral part in.

Murdoch University leadership fellow Dr Lars Bejder, who has been researching the impacts of human activities on dolphin ecology throughout the world and is currently at the Dolphin Discovery Centre as part of a large scale project, was instrumental in bringing the convention to Bunbury.

He said it was important more insight was gained into the long-term sustainability of dolphin and whale tourism.

"We know from research in Shark Bay, WA and in New Zealand that this industry can have detrimental effects on exposed animals," he said.

"We want to ensure that it is a sustainable industry.

"We don’t want to just be able to do it for 20, 30 years and then find it has an irreversible impact and can’t do it any more.

"This is the first step in a very comprehensive and long-term project."

He said the project would potentially involve research in the United States, Canada, South America and in Western Australia at Shark Bay and Bunbury but was still in the planning stages.

Dr Bejder said having the Commission’s intercessional meeting in Bunbury in April, before its major one in Chile in June, was a big deal for the city and Murdoch University with international media attention expected.

"It’s really putting Bunbury, the Dolphin Discovery Centre and Murdoch University on the map," he said.