4 November 2015
ASCOBANS Transmits Outcomes of Consultative Process on Bycatch to EU Commission
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The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has reported that the Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) communicated to the European Commission, the outcomes of a one-year process to develop a common position of ASCOBANS Parties on legislation to address the monitoring and mitigation of small cetacean bycatch.

CMS2 November 2015: The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has reported that the Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) communicated to the European Commission, the outcomes of a one-year process to develop a common position of ASCOBANS Parties on legislation to address the monitoring and mitigation of small cetacean bycatch.

The CMS Secretariat notes that the EU, which has long recognized bycatch as a threat to cetaceans, adopted a regulation requesting the Commission to review its effectiveness and develop a legislative proposal for ensuring the effective protection of cetaceans.

The process initiated by the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee started with the establishment of a working group on bycatch tasked with, inter alia, exploring management procedures relating to bycatch; assessing the best approaches to address the bycatch problem within fisheries fora; and reporting the results of initiatives to, among others, the European Commission. As part of the process, the Committee hosted an expert workshop in January 2015.

The outcomes of this process, which will feed into the 8th Meeting of ASCOBANS, include: reflections on the Way Forward Proposed by the Commission; and a proposed Strategy for Assessing and Managing Cetacean Bycatch in European Waters. [CMS News] [Recommendations of ASCOBANS on the Requirements of Legislation to Address Monitoring and Mitigation of Small Cetacean Bycatch] [ASCOBANS Webpage on Bycatch]

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