ASCOBANS News

We Are Hiring: Report Writers for 2024

The Secretariat is seeking a report writer/s for meetings of ASCOBANS and the IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU.  Apply through the UN Careers portal by 16 January 2024.

12 January 2024

2023 Season's Greetings from the ASCOBANS Secretariat

 

Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year 2024 from the ASCOBANS Secretariat!

09 December 2023

28th Meeting of the Advisory Committee Concluded in Bonn

The 28th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee (AC28) took place from 26 to 28 September 2023 in Bonn, Germany, at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).  The meeting discussed key issues such as cetacean watching industry, recreational sea use, pollution and hazardous substances, ship strikes, climate change, MPAs and other protected areas.

02 October 2023

Technical Workshop on Developing Guidelines for Cetacean-sensitive Maritime Spatial Planning

A technical workshop was organized on 27-28 June 2023, online, to present an overview of the feedback received to the draft Guidelines for cetacean-sensitive marine spatial planning, and to discuss any points that need to be solved before the draft could be presented to the 28th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee.

03 July 2023

6th Meeting of the Sessional Committee of the CMS Scientific Council

The Sixth Meeting of the Sessional Committee of the Scientific Council (ScC-SC6) will be held from 18 to 21 July 2023 at the UNEP/CMS Secretariat premises in Bonn, Germany. As ScC-SC6 being the last meeting of the Scientific Council before the Fourteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CMS (COP14), its main objective will be to provide advice on scientific and technical matters to the COP.

30 June 2023

Conservation Objective Workshops

The ASCOBANS Secretariat held two workshops in April and May 2023, to review the appropriateness of current ASCOBANS conservation objectives.

26 May 2023

Workshop on current cetacean bycatch issues in European waters

The Secretariats of ACCOBAMS and ASCOBANS co-organized an ECS Workshop on current cetacean bycatch issues in European waters, which took take place in O Grove, Galicia, Spain, on 17 April 2023, as part of the 34th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society. The objective was to share information, and to discuss how such bycatch can be mitigated. 

26 April 2023

Workshop on Scoping the Development of a European Marine Strandings Database

The workshop on Scoping the Development of a European Marine Strandings Database was organized on 16 April 2023, in O Grove, Galicia, Spain, as part of ECS 2023. The aim of the workshop was to scope the feasibility of such a database through discussion with stranding networks across Europe.

25 April 2023

Marine Debris Workshop - New and Emerging Aspects

The Secretariats of ASCOBANS and ACCOBAMS jointly organized a workshop on Marine Debris - New and Emerging Aspects, on 15 April 2023 in O Grove, Galicia, Spain, a day before the start of the 34th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society and its associated workshops (ECS 2023). 

24 April 2023

19th Meeting of the Jastarnia Group

The 19th Meeting of the Steering Group for the ASCOBANS Recovery Plan for Baltic Harbour Porpoises (Jastarnia Plan) and the Conservation Plan for the Harbour Porpoise Population in the Western Baltic, the Belt Sea and the Kattegat (Western Baltic Conservation Plan) took place online from 20 to 22 March 2023. Chaired by Dr. Ida Carlén, progress on the implementation of the Jastarnia and the Western Baltic Conservation Plan was discussed. Country representatives provided an overview of national activities to conserve the harbour porpoise since the last meeting .

27 March 2023