ACCOBAMS
Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area
Definition of ACCOBAMS:
ACCOBAMS is a cooperation between Albania, Algeria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Libye, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine, for the conservation of marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Its purpose is to reduce threats to cetaceans in Mediterranean and Black Sea waters and improve our knowledge of these animals.
This is the common definition for ACCOBAMS, other definitions can be discussed in the article
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Provisions of the Agreement
1. Parties shall take co-ordinated measures to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status for cetaceans. To this end, Parties shall prohibit and take all necessary measures to eliminate, where this is not already done, any deliberate taking of cetaceans and shall co-operate to create and maintain a network of specially protected areas to conserve cetaceans.
2. Any Party may grant an exception to the prohibition set out in the preceding paragraph only in emergency situations as provided for in Annex 2, paragraph 6, or, after having obtained the advice of the Scientific Committee, for the purpose of non-lethal in situ research aimed at maintaining a favourable conservation status for cetaceans. The Party concerned shall immediately inform the Bureau and the Scientific Committee, through the Agreement secretariat, of any such exception that has been granted. The Agreement secretariat shall inform all Parties of the exception without delay by the most appropriate means.
3. In addition, Parties shall apply, within the limits of their sovereignty and/or jurisdiction and in accordance with their international obligations, the conservation, research and management measures prescribed in Annex 2 to this Agreement, which shall address the following matters:
a) adoption and enforcement of national legislation; b) assessment and management of human-cetacean interactions; c) habitat protection; d) research and monitoring; e) capacity building, collection and dissemination of information, training and education; and f) responses to emergency situations.
Measures concerning fisheries activities shall be applied in all waters under their sovereignty and/or jurisdiction and outside these waters in respect of any vessel under their flag or registered within their territory.
4. In implementing the measures prescribed above, the Parties shall apply the precautionary principle.
Further details of the agreement, news etc. are available on the web site see
[1]
See also
ASCOBANS Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas
