ANNEX 2

CONSERVATION PLAN

The Parties shall undertake, to the maximum extent of their economic, technical, and scientific capacities, the following measures for the conservation of cetaceans, giving priority to conserving those species or populations identified by the Scientific Committee as having the least favourable conservation status, and to undertaking research in areas or for species for which there is a paucity of data.

1. Adoption and enforcement of national legislation

Parties to this Agreement shall adopt the necessary legislative, regulatory or administrative measures to give full protection to cetaceans in waters under their sovereignty and/or jurisdiction and outside these waters in respect of any vessel under their flag or registered within their territory engaged in activities which may affect the conservation of cetaceans. To this end, Parties shall:

a) develop and implement measures to minimize adverse effects of fisheries on the conservation status of cetaceans. In particular, no vessel shall be allowed to keep on board, or use for fishing, one or more drift nets whose individual or total length is more than 2.5 kilometres;

b) introduce or amend regulations with a view to preventing fishing gear from being discarded or left adrift at sea, and to require the immediate release of cetaceans caught incidentally in fishing gear in conditions that assure their survival;

c) require impact assessments to be carried out in order to provide a basis for either allowing or prohibiting the continuation or the future development of activities that may affect cetaceans or their habitat in the Agreement area, including fisheries, offshore exploration and exploitation, nautical sports, tourism and cetacean-watching, as well as establishing the conditions under which such activities may be conducted;

d) regulate the discharge at sea of, and adopt within the framework of other appropriate legal instruments stricter standards for, pollutants believed to have adverse effects on cetaceans; and

e) endeavour to strengthen or create national institutions with a view to furthering implementation of the Agreement.

2. Assessment and management of human-cetacean interactions

Parties shall, in co-operation with relevant international organizations, collect and analyse data on direct and indirect interactions between humans and cetaceans in relation to inter alia fishing, industrial and touristic activities, and land-based and maritime pollution. When necessary, Parties shall take appropriate remedial measures and shall develop guidelines and/or codes of conduct to regulate or manage such activities.

3. Habitat protection

Parties shall endeavour to establish and manage specially protected areas for cetaceans corresponding to the areas which serve as habitats of cetaceans and/or which provide important food resources for them. Such specially protected areas should be established within the framework of the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, 1976, and its relevant protocol, or within the framework of other appropriate instruments.

4. Research and monitoring

Parties shall undertake co-ordinated, concerted research on cetaceans and facilitate the development of new techniques to enhance their conservation. Parties shall, in particular:

a) monitor the status and trends of species covered by this Agreement, especially those in poorly known areas, or species for which little data are available, in order to facilitate the elaboration of conservation measures;

b) co-operate to determine the migration routes and the breeding and feeding areas of the species covered by the Agreement in order to define areas where human activities may need to be regulated as a consequence;

c) evaluate the feeding requirements of the species covered by the Agreement and adapt fishing regulations and techniques accordingly;

d) develop systematic research programmes on dead, stranded, wounded or sick animals to determine the main interactions with human activities and to identify present and potential threats; and

e) facilitate the development of passive acoustic techniques to monitor cetacean populations.

5. Capacity building, collection and dissemination of information, training and education

Taking into account the differing needs and the developmental stages of the Range States, Parties shall give priority to capacity building in order to develop the necessary expertise for the implementation of the Agreement. Parties shall co-operate to develop common tools for the collection and dissemination of information about cetaceans and to organize training courses and education programmes. Such actions shall be conducted in concert at the subregional and Agreement level, supported by the Agreement secretariat, the Co-ordination units and the Scientific Committee and carried out in collaboration with competent international institutions or organizations. The results shall be made available to all Parties. In particular, Parties shall co-operate to:

a) develop the systems for collecting data on observations, incidental catches, strandings, epizootics and other phenomena related to cetaceans;

b) prepare lists of national authorities, research and rescue centres, scientists and non-governmental organizations concerned with cetaceans;

c) prepare a directory of existing protected or managed areas which could benefit the conservation of cetaceans and of marine areas of potential importance for the conservation of cetaceans;

d) prepare a directory of national and international legislation concerning cetaceans;

e) establish, as appropriate, a subregional or regional data bank for the storage of information collected under paragraphs a) to d) above;

f) prepare a subregional or regional information bulletin on cetacean conservation activities or contribute to an existing publication serving the same purpose;

g) prepare information, awareness and identification guides for distribution to users of the sea;

h) prepare, on the basis of regional knowledge, a synthesis of veterinary recommendations for the rescue of cetaceans; and

i) develop and implement training programmes on conservation techniques, in particular, onobservation, release, transport and first aid techniques, and responses to emergency situations.

6. Responses to emergency situations

Parties shall, in co-operation with each other, and whenever possible and necessary, develop and implement emergency measures for cetaceans covered by this Agreement when exceptionally unfavourable or endangering conditions occur. In particular, Parties shall:

a) prepare, in collaboration with competent bodies, emergency plans to be implemented in case of threats to cetaceans in the Agreement area, such as major pollution events, important strandings or epizootics; and

b) evaluate capacities necessary for rescue operations for wounded or sick cetaceans; and

c) prepare a code of conduct governing the function of centres or laboratories involved in this work.

In the event of an emergency situation requiring the adoption of immediate measures to avoid deterioration of the conservation status of one or more cetacean populations, a Party may request the relevant Co-ordination unit to advise the other Parties concerned, with a view to establishing a mechanism to give rapid protection to the population identified as being subject to a particularly adverse threat.