The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS) is pleased to announce the publication of issue No. 43 of the CMS Technical Series: Guidelines for the safe and humane handling and release of bycaught small cetaceans from fishing gear, at present available in English only.

It can be accessed on the CMS website under https://www.cms.int/en/publications/technical-series.

These Guidelines have been financed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) specifically with the intention of supporting initiatives to address cetacean bycatch, including those by CMS, its associated regional agreements, ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas) and ACCOBAMS (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area), and the International Whaling Commission (IWC). They are intended to help fisheries managers at any level, as well as others working with fisheries, to improve sustainability with best-practice methodology on the safe and humane handling and release of small cetaceans accidentally caught in fishing gear. As such, they serve to support the implementation of Resolution 12.22 Bycatch.

Experts associated with the CMS Scientific Council, the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee, the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee and the IWC Scientific Committee have peer-reviewed the publication. An earlier version had been published as UNEP/CMS/COP13/Inf.29.

For further information, please contact Ms. Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma: [email protected].