ASCOBANS

ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas)

Definition of ASCOBANS: ASCOBANS is an agreement between ten Parties: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, together with four non-Party Range States: Estonia, Latvia, Norway and the Russian Federation. It aims to protect the many species of whales, dolphins and porpoises migrating seasonally between their breeding, feeding and over-wintering ranges, and those that follow their prey over long distances. En route they encounter a variety of man-made threats. Bycatch, the accidental entanglement in fishing gear, is considered the most serious threat to cetacean populations in the ASCOBANS area. Marine pollution, acoustic disturbance and competition with fisheries are further dangers. The Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) was concluded in 1991 under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP/CMS or Bonn Convention) and entered into force in 1994. It includes the the marine environment of the Baltic and North Seas. This is the common definition for ASCOBANS, other definitions can be discussed in the article

Details of the agreement, news etc. are available on the web site see [1]