4th Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS, Esbjerg, Denmark, 19 - 22 August 2003

The 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (UNEP/ASCOBANS) took place in Esbjerg, Denmark from 19-22 August 2003.

At the invitation of the Government of Denmark, representatives of the eight North and Baltic Sea Parties, Estonia and a large number of intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations met in Esbjerg to chart the course for the conservation of small cetaceans not only for the Baltic and the North Seas but soon also for the Eastern North Atlantic. At the meeting there was consensus on extending the Agreement to also cover parts of the North Atlantic and to incorporate waters adjacent to Ireland, Portugal and Spain into the Agreement area. This will, when ratified, close the gap between the Agreement areas of ASCOBANS and its sister agreement, the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black and Mediterranean Seas and contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS).

The Meeting also focused on other issues high on the Agreement's agenda, such as bycatch, disturbance and a new large-scale abundance survey for the extended ASCOBANS Agreement area.

A key point was the strong support for the ASCOBANS recovery plan for the particularly threatened harbour porpoise in the Baltic Sea (the Jastarnia Plan). Moreover, the Meeting agreed to begin the process of elaborating a recovery plan for harbour porpoises in the North Sea. While the conservation status and conservation problems are different between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, the experience gained in the elaboration of the Jastarnia Plan will prove useful in developing a North Sea recovery plan.

In a nutshell: MOP 4 laid the groundwork for a successful continuation of the Agreement's activities in the coming triennium.