Reporter: March 2002 No. 6

The first meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS (the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area) took place in Monaco from 28 February to 2 March. Ten contracting Parties (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Romania, Spain and Tunisia[1]) attended the meeting, while other countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the European Community) attended as observers. Also present as observers were representatives of a number of related international organizations (namely, the International Whaling Commission and the Secretariats of the Barcelona, Bucharest and Bern Conventions) and of a number of non-governmental organizations, including the IUCN, the European Cetacean Society (ECS) and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

Organizational matters

As might be expected, much of the work of the First Meeting was taken up discussing organizational matters. In particular, agreement was reached on the establishment of a Permanent Secretariat, which will be based in Monaco, and of a Scientific Committee. A Scientific Committee was also established, which will be composed of five experts designated by the International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea (CIESM), four designated by the Parties and one each from the IUCN, the IWC and the ECS. The four members designated by the parties are each to represent one of the four geographical regions (Mediterranean and near Atlantic, Central Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea). The Scientific Committee is expected to hold its first meeting in Spring 2002. In addition to the Permanent Secretariat and the Scientific Committee, two sub-regional coordination units (SCUs), as envisaged under Article V of the Agreement, were also established: one for the Mediterranean Sea and one for the Black Sea. These are essentially coordination units operating within existing institutions designed to facilitate the implementation of ACCOBAMS conservation measures. The establishment of the SCUs at the Meeting was essentially the formalization of earlier agreements with the Interim Secretariat. Thus, the Mediterranean SCU was created within the framework of the Regional Activities Centre for Specially Protected Areas (Barcelona Convention) and the Black Sea SCU within the framework of the Black Sea Commission (Bucharest Convention).

A number of Resolutions were adopted, specifying some of the details of the future operation of the ACCOBAMS institutions and Parties. These Resolutions dealt with, inter alia, financial and administrative matters, voting rights, reporting procedures, etc. Rules of Procedure were also adopted for the Meeting of the Parties and the Bureau. An interesting and novel development at the Meeting was the creation of a system of ACCOBAMS  Partners". These are organizations and institutions recognized by ACCOBAMS as being technically qualified in the conservation of cetaceans. Once accorded partner status, these organizations are expected to contribute on a regular basis to the further development of policies and the technical and scientific tools of the Agreement and, if required, to contribute to the evaluation of project proposals, implementation and evaluation. The partners will participate in ACCOBAMS meetings as observers and advisors. The following organizations were granted partner status at the First  Meeting: the American Society of International Law - Wildlife Interest Group; the  European Cetacean Society (ECS); the Instituto Centrale per la Ricerca Applicata al Mare (ICRAM); the National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”; the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco; the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute; the Swiss Cetacean Society (SCS); the Tethys Research Institute; the University of Valencia; the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS); and the BREMA Laboratory.