RESOLUTION 1.10

COOPERATION BETWEEN NATIONAL NETWORKS OF CETACEAN STRANDINGS AND THE CREATION OF A DATABASE

The Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area,

Recalling that Article II, paragraph 3.e), of the Agreement, invites the Parties “to reinforce capacity building, the collection and dissemination of information, formation and education”;  

Recalling in addition  that the Conservation Plan binds the Parties to:

- develop “systematic research programmes on dead, stranded, wounded or sick animals, to determine the main interactions with human activities and to identify present and potential threats” (paragraph 4.d); 

- “develop the systems for collecting data on observations, by-catches, strandings, epizootics and other phenomena related to cetaceans” (paragraph 5.a);

- “establish, as appropriate, a sub regional or regional data bank for the storage of information collected” (paragraph 5.e).  

Recalling also that the Conservation Plan states that “such actions shall be conducted in concert at the sub regional and Agreement level, supported by the Agreement Secretariat, the Co-ordination Units and the Scientific Committee and carried out in collaboration with competent international institutions or organisations.”  

Recalling that Resolution 1.9 considers in the Action 15 of the Annex 1 the support to the Implementation of National Strandings Networks and the coordination into wider Regional Network, with specific mention to the Black Sea.

Aware that, within the Agreement area, there are already several networks, follow-up systems, and collections of data from stranded animals, as well as a Mediterranean co-ordination initiative directed by the CAR/ASP and known as the MEDACES;

1. Takes into account the Secretariat’s report, based on the questionnaire distributed by the interim Secretariat at the end of 2000, presenting the state of national structures on the follow-up procedure for stranded animals and a co-ordination project for these networks.  

2.   Recommends each Party individually

- to implement, if not already done, or to complete at a national level, networks or information structures for intervening and collecting data on strandings;

- to reinforce the co-ordination so that the data collected can be effectively used:

- to increase as needed the participation of the NGO and scientific community in such actions:

- to support the introduction in cetacean training courses, of appropriate methods of field-work.

3. Recommends the co-ordination of national networks and the creation of a data base covering the Agreement zone;

4. Welcomes with pleasure the Spanish offer, in collaboration with the University of Valencia, to increase coverage of the data base MEDACES, which should be develop in the interest and help of all the Riparian States, to the whole of the Mediterranean sub-region/Atlantic zone of the Agreement.

5. Entrusts the administration of this, as far as the Mediterranean sub-region/adjacent Atlantic zone is concerned, to the CAR/ASP as a Sub-regional Co-ordination Unit;

6. Urges the Secretariat to find the means to establish and manage the equivalent data base for the Black Sea and to connect it, as far as possible, with that of Mediterranean/Atlantic area of the Agreement;

7. Invites  the other riparian countries of the zone to participate in these actions;

8. Invites Parties who are also Parties to the CITES to register competent laboratories with the CITES Secretariat, in application of the CITES Resolution Conf.11/15, which allows for free exchange of specimens between their scientists (MOP 1/Inf.11);

9. Asks the Scientific Committee, on the occasion of its first Meeting, to approve a general protocol on measures to be taken when confronted with stranded animals and also to approve a code of deontology assuring the quality and use of the data base and defining practical methods for setting up the network;

10. Asks, in addition, the Scientific Committee to report on the progress of the project;

11. Offers the possibility for organizations and institutions participating in these projects , to use the ACCOBAMS Partner’s Logo, for work relating to these questions, following approbation from the Executive Secretary.