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Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area (ACCOBAMS)
The purpose of ACCOBAMS is to reduce threats to cetaceans in Mediterranean and Black Sea waters and improve our knowledge of these animals.
ACCOBAMS is the first Agreement binding the countries in these two subregions, and enabling them to work together on a matter of general interest.
Cooperative tools for the conservation of marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean and Black Seas:
The purpose of ACCOBAMS is to reduce threat to cetaceans in Mediterranean and Black Sea waters and improve our knowledge of these animals.
ACCOBAMS is the first Agreement binding the countries in these two subregions, and enabling them to work together on a matter of general interest.
It requires the States to implement a detailed conservation plan for cetaceans, based first on respect of legislation banning the deliberate capture of cetaceans in fishing zones by their flag vessels or those subject to their jurisdiction, on measures for minimizing incidental capture and, finally, on the creation of protected areas.
This approach combines both the protection of threatened species and the institution of reinforced geographic protection. Governments are also undertaking to assess and manage the interactions between humans and cetaceans, conducting research and continuous monitoring, developing programmes to inform, train and educate the public and setting up emergency response measures.
The ACCOBAMS Agreement results from consultation between the Secretariats of the three Conventions: the Barcelona Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Mediterranean Coast (and its new Application Protocol relative to Special Protection Zones and the Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean adopted on 10 June 1995), the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and the Bern Convention relative to the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, whose standing Committee decide, in 1989, to create an informal group on little cetaceans that met in Palma de Majorca in 1991 with the view of drafting an Agreement. The Bucharest Convention on the protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution joined the group of Conventions later.
The first interconvention consultations held in Athens on 26 and 27 October 1992 bore essentially on the mechanisms of cooperation, coordination and transmission of information on cetaceans between the Secretariats of the three above-mentioned Conventions (Barcelona Convention, Bonn Convention, Bern Convention) and all organizations involved in implementing the Action Plan on the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Three years later, two meetings in Monaco negotiated a draft Agreement on the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The first meeting, from 26 to 30 September 1995, led to drawing up the text of the Agreement and its conservation plan as well as extending the taxonomic coverage of the Agreement to large cetaceans found in the zone (in particular the fin whale and the sperm whale).
All questions regarding the exact definition of the Agreement area, in particular the status of the inland waters and the proposal to extend the instrument to the adjacent waters of the Atlantic Ocean that had remained suspended were resolved in a second meeting (18-24 November 1996) hosted by the Principality of Monaco. Representatives of over 20 countries on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as observers from many intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations participated in the plenipotentiary Conference for signature, which closed the meeting.
The Agreement has been ready for signature in Monaco since 24 November 1996 and entered into force the 1st of June 2001.
More information available at: www.accobams.org