The following organizations have been approved as observers to ASCOBANS Meetings of the Parties and Meetings of the Advisory Committee, in line with Rule 2 of the respective Rules of Procedure:

 

Listed in Article 6.2.1 of the Agreement (or their replacements)

  • United Nations, acting as the Depository to this Agreement
  • Secretariats and technical advisory bodies of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and its daughter Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding
  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
  • Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention)
  • Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR)
  • Common Secretariat for the Co-operation on the Protection of the Wadden Sea (CWSS)
  • International Whaling Commission (IWC)
  • North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC)
  • Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM)
  • International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
  • International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
  • Non-Party Range States (any State that exercises jurisdiction over any part of the range of a species covered by the Agreement, or a State whose flag vessels, outside national jurisdictional limits but within the area of the Agreement, are engaged in operations adversely affecting small cetaceans - see Article 1.2 (f))
  • Regional Economic Integration Organizations bordering on the waters covered by the Agreement

 

Other bodies qualified in cetacean conservation and management 

  • Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP)
  • Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB)
  • Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC)
  • European Cetacean Society (ECS)
  • Humane Society International (HSI)
  • Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
  • International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
  • Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Naturschutzbund Deutschland, NABU)
  • North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO)
  • North Sea Foundation
  • OceanCare
  • Seafish
  • Sea Watch Foundation
  • Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC)
  • Wild Migration
  • World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
  • Zoological Society of London (ZSL)

 

The list of approved observers can be amended at the request of at least one-third of the Parties up to 60 days before each meeting.

Other bodies or individuals qualified in cetacean conservation and management can request admittance as observers in line with the provisions outlined in Rule 2 of the Rules of Procedure for AC and MOP Meetings.