News

CITES COP17 – Implications for CMS

The discussions at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which began on 24 September in Johannesburg are of great relevance to CMS. CMS and CITES are the two major species-based global Conventions. CMS and CITES have around 500 species in common. Of the 183 countries that are Party to CITES, 123 are also members of CMS.

23 September 2016

First Regional Capacity-Building Workshop held in the Caribbean

The CMS Secretariat, in co-operation with the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP), organized the first Caribbean regional accession workshop from 31 August to 2 September 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The workshop catered to countries that are not Parties to CMS, but could benefit from acceding to it.

05 September 2016

New FAO Shark Database goes live

The new FAO online "Shark Measures Database" goes live

09 June 2016

World Oceans Day – Focus on the Galapagos

With today being World Oceans Day, CMS is looking at Ecuador, which in March this year designated 40,000 square kilometres of the waters around the Galapagos Islands as conservation areas.

07 June 2016

World Fish Migration Day 2016: Connecting Fish, Rivers and People!

World Fish Migration Day is being celebrated on 21 May for the second time, with the theme “Connecting Fish, Rivers and People”. Over 1,500 organizations are involved and events are taking place in more than 400 different localities around the world to mark the day and to highlight the importance of healthy rivers.

19 May 2016

International Meeting to Protect the World's Sharks Convenes in Costa Rica

The second Meeting of Signatories to the Convention on Migratory Species Sharks MOU is taking place in San José, Costa Rica, from 15 to 19 February.

15 February 2016

International Meeting to Conserve the World’s Sharks Taking Place in Costa Rica

The second meeting of the signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks is taking place in San José, Costa Rica from 15 to 19 February. It will be preceded by the first meeting of the Memorandum’s Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of John Carlson of the USA. The MOU is a non-legally binding instrument and was negotiated under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

25 January 2016

First World Ocean Assessment Published by the UN

The First Global Integrated Marine Assessment – also known as the First World Ocean Assessment - has been published by the United Nations. Following a recommendation of the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, that there should be a regular process for the global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, the assessment has been in the making since 2010.

24 January 2016

Marine Debris – CMS/ASCOBANS Points out Some Local Solutions to a Global Problem

Marine debris – litter in our oceans – is a serious threat to wildlife making use of the oceans and beaches. Many animals, including marine mammals, turtles, birds and sharks get entangled in lost or discarded nets and lines or mistakenly ingest plastic bags and pieces of colourful plastic. Much suffering and death are the result.

08 December 2015

Capacity-building Workshop on Bycatch Held in Oman

The Secretariat of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) organized a capacity-building workshop in cooperation with the CMS Secretariat.

23 October 2015