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The Secretariats of ASCOBANS and ACCOBAMS are jointly organizing 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). 

The overarching aim of the workshop is to achieve a better understanding of the effects of marine debris on cetaceans, including the relationship between marine debris and fisheries and taking into account the relationship between marine debris and other factors. Please find the outline programme here.

Please  refer to these documents for background and context:

Programme item 1: Introduction

• ACCOBAMS Resolution 8.20 Marine Litter and Chemical Pollution
• ASCOBANS Resolution 9.3 Marine Debris
• ASCOBANS AC27, Action Point 5 Marine Debris
• CMS Resolution 12.20 Management of Marine Debris
• Report of the IWC Workshop on Marine Debris: The Way Forward (2019)
• Report of the Joint ACCOBAMS/ASCOBANS/ECS/SPA-RAC Workshop on Marine Debris and Cetacean Stranding (2018)

Programme item 2.1: Best practice for debris recording for both ingested and entangled materials

• ACCOBAMS-ASCOBANS joint protocol Best practice on cetacean post mortem investigation and tissue sampling (in Annex of ASCOBANS Resolution 8.10 (Rev.MOP9))

Programme item 3: Investigating the relationship between ingested marine litter and associated toxic chemicals, pathogens and pharmaceuticals

• Bibliographic review on the impact of chemical pollution on cetaceans, including the identification of ad hoc research projects aimed at assessing chemical pollution on cetaceans in the ACCOBAMS Area
• Guidelines on the best practices to assess the impact of chemical pollution on cetaceans / to measure the chemical contamination on cetaceans

Programme item 4: Introduction to consideration of cetacean hot spots

• Study on the hot spots of interactions between cetaceans and marine litter in the ACCOBAMS area

Due to space limitations, participation to the workshop is by invitation only. For any queries, including expressions of interest to attend, please contact the ASCOBANS Secretariat or the ACCOBAMS Secretariat.