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Agreement
for the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean
Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area
Signed
in Monaco, 24 November 1996
In force 1 June 2001
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Membership
As of 31 Jan 2005 |
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Albania,
Bulgaria,
Croatia, France, Georgia,
Greece,
Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Morocco,
Portugal, Romania, Spain,
Syria, Tunisia,
Ukraine |
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The
Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, including their gulfs and
the internal waters connected to or interconnecting these waters
and the Atlantic area contiguous to the Mediterranean Sea west
of the Straits of Gibraltar. |
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All
cetaceans found in the Agreement Area: an
Annex to the Agreement provides an
"indicative list" 21 species found in the Black and
Mediterranean Seas. |
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To
promote close cooperation in order to achieve and maintain a
favourable conservation status for cetaceans in the Black and
Mediterranean Seas. |
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ACCOBAMS is
the second of two regional agreements adopted under the auspices
of the
1979 Convention for the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals ("the
Bonn Convention"), concerned with the conservation of
cetaceans: the other is
ASCOBANS.
The basic purpose of ACCOBAMS is to promote close
cooperation in order "to achieve and maintain a favourable
conservation status" for cetaceans in the Black and
Mediterranean Seas and the principal measures by which this
objective is to be achieved are outlined in a Conservation plan.
The agreement was concluded in 1996 and entered into force in
June 2001.
ACCOBAMS is open to
participation by any "range State" or regional
economic integration organization. "Range State"
includes States which not only exercise sovereignty and/or
jurisdiction over any part of the range of a cetacean population
covered by the Agreement but also States, flag vessels of which
are engaged in activities in the Agreement area which may affect
the conservation of cetaceans.
To
implement its objectives, the Agreement sets up:
- a
Meeting of the Parties, as the decision-making body;
- a
Secretariat;
- a
Bureau, to provide general policy
guidance and operational and functional direction to the
Secretariat and the Subregional Coordination Units;
- two
sub-regional coordination Units, for the purposes of
implementing the measures in the Conservation Plan, the
Agreement provides that the Meeting of the Parties is to
establish coordination Units, in each sub-region, among
existing institutions. For this purpose, the institutional
structures of the Barcelona Convention (for the
Mediterranean) and of the Bucharest Convention (for the
Black sea) are anticipated;
- a
Scientific Committee, to advise on
the implementation of the Agreement, to conduct
assessments of the status of species in the Agreement area
and to help develop and coordinate monitoring programs.
In implementing the Agreement, the
ACCOBAMS bodies also cooperate extensively with other
organizations in the region - including NGOs and educational and
research establishments - through a "partnership programme" (see
Resolution 1.13: awarding the Status
of "ACCOBAMS Partner", adopted at the
first Meeting of the Parties).
The first Meeting of the Parties to the agreement took place in
February/March 2002, at which the functions and rules for the
various bodies were developed.
The basic objective of
ACCOBAMS is to
promote close cooperation in order to achieve and maintain a
favourable conservation status for cetaceans in the Black and
Mediterranean Seas. To this end, Parties are to prohibit and
take all necessary measures to eliminate (where this is not
already done) any deliberate taking of cetaceans and shall
cooperate to create and maintain a network of specially
protected areas to conserve cetaceans. ACCOBAMS also expressly
requires parties to “apply the precautionary principle” in
implementing measures taken under the Agreement. Detailed
measures are set out in a "Conservation
Plan", annexed
to the agreement. The
Conservation
Plan deals broadly with six
areas:
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the
adoption and enforcement of national legislation;
- assessment
and management of human-cetacean interactions;
- habitat
protection;
- research
and monitoring;
- capacity
building, collection and dissemination of information,
training and education; and
- responses
to emergency situations.
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