ASCOBANS

The Agreement was approved in Geneva in September 1991, during the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS or Bonn Convention) pursuant to its Article IV (4). The Agreement was concluded in March 1992, opened for signature as the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS), and entered into force in 1994. In February 2008, an extension of the agreement area came into force which changed the name to "Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas".

The Agreement Area is defined as follows:

"... the marine environment of the Baltic and North Seas and contiguous area of the North East Atlantic, as delimited by the shores of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland; to the south-east by latitude 36°N, where this line of latitude meets the line joining the lighthouses of Cape St. Vincent (Portugal) and Casablanca (Morocco); to the south-west by latitude 36°N and longitude 15°W; to the north-west by longitude 15° and a line drawn through the following points: latitude 59°N/longitude 15°W, latitude 60°N/longitude 05°W, latitude, 61°N/longitude 4W;latitude 62N/ longitude 3W; to the north by latitude 62°N; and including the Kattegat and the Sound and Belt passages."

The Secretary General of the United Nations has assumed the functions of Depository of the Agreement. ASCOBANS is open for accession by all Range States (i.e. any state that exercises jurisdiction over any part of the range of a species covered by the Agreement or whose flag vessels engage in operations adversely affecting small cetaceans in the Agreement area) and by regional economic integration organisations.

The treaty text can be accessed here.

ASCOBANS is administered by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and secretariat services are provided by CMS. The working language of the Secretariat is English.

Countries

Title Status Status date Party number Region
Belgium Party 1993 North Sea
Denmark Party 1993 Baltic Sea, North Sea
Estonia Non-Party Range State Baltic Sea
European Union Signed but not ratified 1992
Finland Party 1999 Baltic Sea
France Party 2005 Atlantic Ocean, North Sea
Germany Party 1993 Baltic Sea, North Sea
Ireland Non-Party Range State Atlantic Ocean
Latvia Non-Party Range State Baltic Sea
Lithuania Party 2005 Baltic Sea
Netherlands Party 1992 North Sea
Norway Non-Party Range State North Sea
Poland Party 1996 Baltic Sea
Portugal Non-Party Range State Atlantic Ocean
Russia Non-Party Range State Baltic Sea
Spain Non-Party Range State Atlantic Ocean
Sweden Party 1992 Baltic Sea, North Sea
United Kingdom Party 1993 Atlantic Ocean, North Sea
Instrument nameAgreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas
LanguagesEnglish
French
German
Russian
DepositarySecretary-General of the United Nations, United Nations, Office of Legal Affairs, Treaty Section, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A. Tel: +1 (212) 963 6045 / Fax: +1 (212) 963 3693
SignatureOpen for signature at United Nations Headquarters, New York, on 17 March 1992, and thereafter until date of entry into force.
Website URLhttp://www.ascobans.org