Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

No, CIW is quite alive and well, although they were revising their website back then.

http://www.ciwcertified.com/Certifications/Web_Development_Series/perl.php

It's actualy part of a trio of exams that you have to pass to earn the CIW Web Development Professional certification, the other 2 being CIW JavaScript Specialist & CIW Database Design Specialist.

The HR types love certifications, and the CIW Web Development Professional combination of a front-end scripting language certification, a back-end programming language certification, a database certification, and a web development certification is an easy way for them to check off the boxes for a position in Web Programming and Development.