Bonn Convention - The Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic and North Seas

Small cetaceans are found in nearly all of the world's seas and in some inland waters. Several species occur in the North Sea and, more rarely, in the Baltic. These dolphins and porpoises, in common with others worldwide, move between their breeding, feeding and over-wintering ranges, or follow their prey over long distances. En route they encounter a variety of man-made threats, including accidental entanglement in fishing gear (bycatch), marine pollution, acoustic disturbance, and competition with fisheries. Since migrating cetaceans regularly cross national boundaries, their effective protection requires international cooperation.

 

Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) was adopted in New York, USA in 1992 and came into force in1994. The aim of the Agreement is to promote close cooperation amongst Parties with a view to achieving and maintaining a favourable conservation status for small cetaceans. A Conservation and Management Plan forming part of the Agreement obliges Parties to engage in habitat conservation and management, surveys and research, pollution mitigation and public information. To achieve its aim, ASCOBANS cooperates with Range States that have not (yet) acceded to the Agreement, relevant intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations.

The UK ratified ASCOBANS in 1993, and housed the ASCOBANS Secretariat until 1998. ASCOBANS is applied in all UK waters, including those outside the boundaries of the Agreement, in accordance with existing statutory protection for cetacean species. Research and management efforts are focused towards the problem of cetaceans by-caught in fishing nets and to minimising disturbance to cetaceans as a result of seismic exploration activity, cetacean-watching and leisure activities. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) acts as the UK co-ordinating authority for ASCOBANS, and regularly hosts meetings with other government departments, statutory agencies, and non-government organisations (NGO), to assess and help ensure the UK's continued compliance with the Agreement's obligations.

 

JNCC contributes to ASCOBANS through providing advice and baseline data to Government and through establishing initiatives under the Agreement to conserve cetaceans. Guidelines that have been established by JNCC to minimise disturbance from seismic surveys to marine mammals, including small cetaceans, were drawn up partly in response to ASCOBANS. The guidelines have been adopted by other Parties to ASCOBANS and are in use in other areas globally. JNCC has also acted as Chair or vice Chair of the Advisory Committee of ASCOBANS since its establishment in 1994.