Projects

Since 2008, ASCOBANS Parties have enabled the Secretariat to support some research and conservation projects from savings made on the previous year's budget, voluntary contributions and from a grant kindly made available by the United Nations Environment Programme. Below is a list of these projects, through which you can access also related reports.

The ASCOBANS Advisory Committee decides whether the Secretariat should issue a call for project proposals, and after this was done, considers the proposals made available to its review and selects those that are a priority for funding. Any such calls are advertised both on this website and circulated widely through email distribution lists.

Project Start date End date Implementing Agency Status Region
Coordination of the ASCOBANS Harbour Porpoise Action Plans 29/01/2018 Sea Watch Foundation/Peter Evans- Coalition Clean Baltic/Ida Carlén Ongoing Europe
ASCOBANS Anniversary Publication 15/12/2017 15/02/2018 Sea Watch Foundation / Peter Evans Completed Europe
Baltic Sea Harbour Porpoise Foraging Habitats (BALHAB) 01/01/2017 30/11/2017 Bioscience Aarhus University Completed Baltic Sea
Update and Revision of the Recovery Plan for Baltic Harbour Porpoises (Jastarnia Plan) 01/02/2016 31/05/2016 AquaBiota Water Research ABWR AB Completed Baltic Sea
Development of a fully costed proposal for a web-accessed database for cetacean stranding and necropsy data in the ASCOBANS region 01/11/2015 31/10/2016 Zoological Society of London Completed Europe
Examine habitat exclusion and long term effect of pingers 07/01/2012 30/06/2014 Line Anker Kyhn / Aarhus University, Denmark, Completed
Distribution and relative abundance of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) over Dogger Bank and surrounding waters, Southern North Sea 15/10/2011 30/04/2012 Marine Conservation Research International Completed
Effects of contaminants on reproduction, Phase II 01/05/2011 30/09/2011 Sinéad Murphy / University of St. Andrews Completed
Pollutant exposure in coastal top predators: assessing current levels of exposure and toxic effects 15/01/2011 31/12/2013 The Zoological Society of London, Institute of Zoology, United Kingdom Completed
Feasibility study on the creation of a web-accessed strandings database covering Agreement Party and Range States within the ASCOBANS region 15/01/2011 15/02/2012 Rob Deaville / Zoological Society of London Completed
Analysis of New Data Sets for Risk Assessment of Potential Conflicts between Shipping and Cetaceans in the ASCOBANS Region 15/01/2011 30/04/2011 Sea Watch Foundation Completed
Approaches to an Impact Indicator in the Light of Descriptor 11 (MSFD) 08/01/2011 15/12/2014 Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), München, Germany Completed
Inventories of harbour porpoise Phocaena phocaena phocaena presence in Russian territorial waters of the Baltic Sea 05/01/2011 31/10/2011 Biologists for Nature Conservation
Understanding harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and fisheries interactions in the north-west Iberian Peninsula 02/01/2011 31/01/2012 Fiona Read / University of Aberdeen Completed
Development of a co-ordinated reporting system and HELCOM/ASCOBANS database on Baltic Sea harbour porpoise sightings, by-catches and strandings 20/12/2009 20/06/2010 HELCOM Secretariat Completed Baltic Sea
Risk Assessment of Potential Conflicts between Shipping and Cetaceans in the ASCOBANS Region and Analysis of New Data Sets for Risk Assessment of Potential Conflicts between Shipping and Cetaceans in the ASCOBANS Region 01/04/2009 01/09/2009 Peter Evans / Sea Watch Foundation
Genetic structure of white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) in the Eastern North Atlantic 10/01/2009 31/03/2010 Eulalia Banguera Hinestroza / University of Durham Completed
Historic and present harbour porpoise populations in the Baltic region – geometric morphometrics analysis 10/01/2009 10/01/2010 Anders Galatius Jørgensen / University of Aarhus
Effects of Contaminants on Reproduction in Small Cetaceans 01/01/2009 25/05/2009 Sinéad Murphy / University of St. Andrews Completed
Enhanced detection of harbour porpoises prior to ramming, seismic blasts and ammunition clearance: design and construction of a PAL-porpoise detector (PPD) 01/08/2013 Boris Culik / F³: Forschung . Fakten . Fantasie. Completed