Workshop on Management of MPAs for Small Cetaceans

Bonn, 14 June 2021 - On 18 May and 7-8 June 2021, over 40 experts participated the ASCOBANS Workshop on Management of MPAs for Small Cetaceans. Held online, it was organised together with the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, WWF Germany, WWF Sweden, Coalition Clean Baltic, the Natura 2000 Biogeographical Process, and ASCOBANS.

The workshop facilitated diffusion of knowledge on best practice approaches to MPA management, and discussions on well-formulated conservation objectives and conservation measures for small cetacean MPAs. It further aimed to create a toolbox of practical measures to inspire and provide guidance to MPA management plan developers and authorities.

Threats discussed in break-out groups were bycatch, impulsive and continuous underwater noise, environmental contaminants and pollutants, disturbance from the presence of humans, and habitat quality. The ideas for conservation objectives and measures were requested to be drafted as ambitious and ideal, and then a few were selected to be edited to SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, Time-limited - and further refined.

The workshop report reflects the discussions that took place during the four days. The lists of proposed conservation objectives and measures are not exhaustive, and the objectives and measures are often not fully developed so they should not be seen as complete. However, the report can be useful as food for thought on the management of small cetacean MPAs. It is planned that a second workshop be organised next year, to develop a more complete toolbox of measures.

ASCOBANS 2021. Report from the ASCOBANS Workshop on Management of MPAs for Small Cetaceans. 65 pp. https://www.ascobans.org/en/document/report-ascobans-workshop-management-mpas-small-cetaceans

Last updated on 21 December 2021

Type: 
News item
Region: 
Europe
Threats: 
Habitat loss and degradation
Human Disturbance
Pollution
Noise pollution
Bycatch