Ascobans

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Sea, North East Atlantic and the Irish Sea
Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas
 

Official logo
Organization type agreement
Abbreviation ASCOBANS
management CMS Executive Secretary
status active
Founded March 1994
Headquarters Bonn
Upper organization UNEP
http://www.ascobans.org/

The Agreement for the Conservation of Small Whales in the North and Baltic Seas, the Northeast Atlantic and the Irish Sea , abbreviated ASCOBANS (English: A greement on the Conservation of S mall C etaceans o f the B altic, North East Atlantic , Irish and N orth S eas ), is a regional species protection agreement . It was signed in September 1991 as part of the Bonn Convention, initially under the name “Agreement for the Conservation of Small Whales in the North and Baltic Seas” and came into force in March 1994. In February 2008 the agreement area was expanded and the name changed accordingly. ASCOBANS covers all toothed whale species (Odontoceti) found in the area , with the exception of the sperm whale ( Physeter macrocephalus ).

background

The East , North and Irish Seas and the Northeast Atlantic are home to many species of small whales, such as B. Dolphins and porpoises .

The lives of whales, like other migratory species, are affected by human activities. These include loss of habitat, marine pollution, noise disturbances and, above all, unintentional catching in fishing nets, so-called bycatch . Every year thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoises drown because they get caught in fishing nets and can no longer come to the surface of the sea to breathe.

Agreement area and member states

Originally, the agreement only covered the North and Baltic Seas. However, since February 3, 2008, the area has been expanded to include the Irish Sea and parts of the north-east Atlantic. The area is defined as follows: “... the marine environment of the North and Baltic Seas and the adjacent area of ​​the north-east Atlantic, bounded by the coasts of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland ; to the south-east by latitude 36 ° N, where this line of latitude meets the line created by the connection of the lighthouses of Cape St. Vincent (Portugal) and Casablanca (Morocco); in the southwest by latitude 36 ° N and longitude 15; in the northwest by longitude 15 ° W and the line drawn through the following points: latitude 59 ° N / longitude 15 ° W, latitude 60 ° N / longitude 5 ° W, latitude 61 ° N / longitude 4 ° W, latitude 62 ° N / longitude 3 ° W, in the north by latitude 62 ° N and including the Kattegat , the Sound and the Belte . "

All so-called range states can join the protection agreement. These are states which exercise sovereignty over part of the range of an animal species recorded by ASCOBANS or which sail ships under their flag, whose activities within the agreement area adversely affect small cetaceans. In addition, all regional economic integration organizations (e.g. the EU ) are entitled to join the small whale protection agreement.

Agreement area of ​​the Ascobans

Member States

Range states without membership

organization structure

ASCOBANS has three main bodies for the implementation of the agreement.

The Conference of the Parties

The Conference of the Parties (also MOP, Meeting of the Parties ) is the decision-making body of the agreement. It meets every three years to evaluate progress and develop further steps to implement the agreement. In addition to the contracting states and area states that have not yet joined, thematically relevant regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations can participate in the conference as observers (without voting rights ).

The advisory committee

Each member state of the agreement nominates a representative and advisor who takes part in the meetings of the advisory committee (also AC, Advisory Committee ) once a year . The purpose of the committee is to forward scientific and procedural recommendations to the ASCOBANS Secretariat and the Conference of the Parties. As with the MOP, observers can also take part in the meetings of the AC, with the appointed state representatives also having the sole right to decide.

The secretary

The ASCOBANS secretariat is located in Bonn and serves as the coordination body of the agreement. It collects and disseminates information for the Conference of the Parties (MOP) and the Advisory Committee (AC). It is intended to inform the population and support the member states in implementing the agreements. The Secretariat oversees the meetings of the Conference of the Parties and the advisory committee. It is part of the CMS Secretariat of the Bonn Convention . As part of the 5th ASCOBANS Conference of the Parties (2006) it was decided that the CMS Secretariat should take over secretarial tasks for ASCOBANS for a period of three years from January 1, 2007 and that the CMS Executive Secretary should also be responsible for ASCOBANS.

Selected whale species in the agreement area

The main whale species that the agreement aims to protect are:

Conservation of porpoises

The common porpoise , also known as the bottlenose dolphin, is the only small whale native to the Baltic Sea and the most common whale species in the North Sea. That is why the harbor porpoise is the main focus of the work of the protection agreement.

The need for a conservation plan for harbor porpoises in the Baltic Sea has long been internationally recognized, as estimates suggest that there are only around 600 harbor porpoises left in the Baltic region. The Jastarnia Plan , a protection plan for the recovery of the harbor porpoise population in the Baltic Sea, was developed over several years under the auspices of Ascobans in close cooperation with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM). The rescue plan contains recommendations for reducing certain fishing methods , such as switching to fishing gear with lower bycatch of marine mammals or implementing a pinger program. The plan, which was adopted at the 4th Conference of the Parties in 2003, has the following core objectives:

  • Reduce the bycatch rate within the 1995 area to a maximum of two harbor porpoises a year.
  • Improve scientific knowledge in the key areas.
  • Develop more specific conservation objectives based on updated population and bycatch data.

Although the North Sea harbor porpoise populations are not directly threatened, the animals in this area are still under pressure from high bycatch rates and other factors.

ASCOBANS in public

In 2001 the environmental foundation WWF praised the efforts to reduce bycatch among ascobans. However, in 2004 the WWF complained that loopholes in the text of the agreement did not adequately prevent the unnecessary killing of small whales in the fishery and that stricter measures could reduce the bycatch of marine mammals. In 2006, the taz represented the contribution of the agreement to the conservation of harbor porpoises in the Baltic Sea. The article points out, for example, that a regulation was introduced in 2007 according to which all fishing vessels must be equipped with acoustic warning systems ( pingers ) that warn harbor porpoises and thus counteracting bycatch. At the beginning of 2008, the Society for the Protection of Marine Mammals (GSM) demanded that the work of Ascobans should be given more attention.

Since 2003, International Harbor Porpoise Day has been celebrated every year on the 3rd Sunday in May in institutions in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea in order to raise awareness of the distressed situation of the harbor porpoise among the population. The secretariat also publishes a periodic newsletter that provides information on current activities and topics.
Ascobans supported the Year of the Dolphin campaign , which took place in 2007 and 2008.

Some marine protection organizations feared that the dissolution of the previous ASCOBANS secretariat in January 2007 would result in a considerable weakening of the small whale protection agreement.

See also

swell

  1. ^ Draft of the amendment dated February 3, 2008 in environmental online Federal Council printed matter
  2. ↑ Ascobans: MOP Documents ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ascobans.org
  3. ↑ Ascobans: AC Documents ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ascobans.org
  4. ↑ Jastarnia Plan ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 799 kB)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.service-board.de
  5. ↑ IUCN
  6. ↑ HELCOM
  7. ↑ ASCOBANS - Bonn Convention ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.meeresnaturschutz.de
  8. ↑ WWF article 2001 (English)
  9. ↑ WWF article 2004 ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wwf.org.uk
  10. ↑ TAZ Article 2006
  11. ↑ GSM article
  12. ↑ Year of the Dolphin Campaign ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yod2007.org
  13. ↑ No protection for small whales - whale protection secretariat before the dissolution? Wadden Sea Protection Station, accessed on September 27, 2015 .
  14. ^ A sad result of the "UN Year of the Dolphin 2007/2008". Society for the Rescue of Dolphins, accessed on September 27, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Dolphin year was a failure. n-tv, accessed September 27, 2015 .

Web links