A Conservation and Management Plan is annexed to the Agreement Text. It reads:

The following conservation, research, and management measures shall be applied, in conjunction with other competent international bodies, to the populations defined in Article 1.1:

1. Habitat conservation and management

Work towards (a) the prevention of the release of substances which are a potential threat to the health of the animals, (b) the development, in the light of available data indicating unacceptable interaction. of modifications of fishing gear and fishing practices in order to reduce by-catches and to prevent fishing gear from getting adrift or being discarded at sea, (c) the effective regulation, to reduce the impact on the animals, of activities which seriously affect their food resources, and (d) the prevention of other significant disturbance, especially of an acoustic nature.

2. Surveys and research

Investigations, to be coordinated and shared in an efficient manner between the Parties and competent international organizations, shall be conducted in order to (a) assess the status and seasonal movements of the populations and stocks concerned, (b) locate areas of special importance to their survival, and (c) identify present and potential threats to the different species.
Studies under (a) should particularly include improvement of existing and development of new methods to establish stock identity and to estimate abundance, trends, population structure and dynamics, and migrations. Studies under (b) should focus on locating areas of special importance to breeding and feeding. Studies under (c) should include research on habitat requirements, feeding ecology, trophic relationships, dispersal, and sensory biology with special regard to effects of pollution, disturbance and interactions with fisheries, including work on methods to reduce such interactions. The studies should exclude the killing of animals and include the release in good health of animals captured for research.

3. Use of by-catches and strandings

Each Party shall endeavour to establish an efficient system for reporting and retrieving by-catches and stranded specimens and to carry out, in the framework of the studies mentioned above, full autopsies in order to collect tissues for further studies and to reveal possible causes of death and to document food composition. The information collected shall be made available in an international database.

4. Legislation

Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 2 above, the Parties shall endeavour to establish (a) the prohibition under national law, of the intentional taking and killing of small cetaceans where such regulations are not already in force, and (b) the obligation to release immediately any animals caught alive and in good health. Measures to enforce these regulations shall be worked out at the national level.

5. Information and Education

Information shall be provided to the general public in order to ensure support for the aims of the agreement in general and to facilitate the reporting of sightings and strandings in particular; and to fishermen in order to facilitate and promote the reporting of by-catches and the delivery of dead specimens to the extent required for research under the agreement.

Jastarnia Plan – Recovery Plan for Baltic Harbour Porpoises

The Jastarnia Plan was drawn up under the auspices of ASCOBANS over the course of several years by a special working group composed of representatives of international conventions, government ministries, fishermen and environmental groups, in close collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM). Adopted by the fourth Meeting of the Parties (MOP 4) in 2003, the objectives of the plan are:

· To reduce the annual bycatch rate within the area surveyed in 1995 to no more than 2 harbour porpoises;
· To improve scientific knowledge in key subject areas;
· To develop more specific recovery targets based on the latest population and bycatch data.

The overall aim is to restore the Baltic population of Harbour porpoises - an estimated 600 individuals are left - to at least 80% of the Baltic’s carrying-capacity. A change in fishing methods and a reduction of fishing effort could significantly contribute to a lower bycatch rate. Additionally, programmes for research and monitoring, marine protected area establishment and an increase of public awareness are recommended in the Jastarnia Plan.

Conservation Plan for Harbour Porpoises in the North Sea

While not being under immediate threat in the North Sea, the populations of Harbour porpoises living in this area also face pressure through high bycatch rates and other factors. Therefore, a Conservation Plan for Harbour porpoises in the North Sea is under development and will be presented to Parties at their 6th Meeting in 2009.