Exploring Synergies for Addressing Bycatch throughout the CMS Family

Bonn, 3 May 2016 - On Friday and Saturday, 22-23 April 2016, the CMS Family got together for an internal workshop to exchange experiences with addressing what is considered the greatest threat to the marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and seabirds that our treaties and Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) were set up to conserve.

Representatives of the legally-binding Agreements ACAP, ACCOBAMS, AEWA and ASCOBANS, as well as colleagues servicing the MOUs on Sharks, Dugong, IOSEA Turtles, Atlantic Coast of Africa Turtles, Pacific Island Cetaceans, Western African Aquatic Mammals and Mediterranean Monk Seals, as well as the Pacific Loggerhead Turtle SSAP, gave presentations on the bycatch issues in their frameworks. In lively discussions, the commonalities as well as differences in terms of species of concern and their protection status, relevant fisheries and gear types, availability of mitigation measures and their uptake by fisheries management organizations were explored.

On the second day, discussions focused on the potential for synergies between the CMS Family instruments, considering topics such as the development of technical solutions, data collection protocols, mutual support and attendance at meetings of regional fisheries management organizations, sharing of resources such as guidelines and best practice mitigation fact sheets, as well as legislative approaches.

 

The Government of the Principality of Monaco were recognized as Champion for their generous support and commitment towards marine species conservation for the period 2015 – 2017. The organization of the workshop has been funded with the contribution granted by Monaco under the Migratory Species Champion Programme.

Last updated on 26 May 2017