3 October 2005 - France tenth Party to UNEP/ASCOBANS
On 3 October 2005, France deposited her instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, acting in his capacity as depositary to the Agreement. Pursuant to Article 8 France will therefore become a Party to the Agreement on 2 November 2005. UNEP/ASCOBANS welcomes France, which has been an active observer to the Agreement for many years. We look forward to continued and enhanced cooperation with France in protecting small cetaceans, in particular in the western reaches of the Agreement Area.

The 13th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee (AC13) will take place at the Murikka Center, near Tampere, Finland from 25 - 27 April 2006.

27 July 2005 - Lithuania Ninth Party to UNEP/ASCOBANS
With effect from 27 July 2005 Lithuania has become the 9th Party to ASCOBANS. Following the ratification of the Agreement by the Lithuanian Parliament on 21 April 2005, Lithuania deposited her instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, acting in his capacity as depositary to the Agreement, on 27 June of this year. Pursuant to Article 8 of the Agreement, the date of entry into force of the accession for Lithuania is 27 July 2005. UNEP/ASCOBANS welcomes Lithuania, the ninth Party to the Agreement. The accession of this new Range State from the Eastern Baltic region constitutes an important step towards conserving the Baltic harbour porpoise. UNEP/ASCOBANS looks forward to continued and enhanced cooperation with Lithuania in protecting this highly endangered population.

15 May 2005- 3rd International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise
As in previous years, the IDBHP was once again observed in countries around the Baltic Sea. In addition to institutions in UNEP/ASCOBANS Parties, two renowned museums in the non-Party Range States Latvia and Lithuania also staged events on the occasion of the 3rd IDBHP. In Bonn, the seat of the UNEP/ASCOBANS Secretariat, the IDBHP was once again observed at Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Koenig. A public lecture by the known marine biologist and journalist Petra Deimer (President of Gesellschaft zum Schutz der Meeressäugetiere, GSM) gave the German public insights into the dire situation of the harbour porpoise in particular but also of marine mammals generally in the Baltic. In addition, the UNEP/ASCOBANS Secretariat organized an exhibition ( "Small cetaceans: artists under water "), which currently provides interested visitors with an artistic view of these unique creatures. The exhibited works of two British artists, Martin Camm, who has cooperated with ASCOBANS for many years, and Phil Coles, demonstrate the beauty and elegance of our native dolphins and porpoises and can be seen at Museum Koenig, Bonn, until 26 June 2005.

In addition to Museum Koenig, the following institutions and organizations are staging exhibitions or other events on the occasion of the 3rd International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise: Särkänniemi Dolphinarium Tampere, Finland; Gesellschaft zum Schutz der Meeressäugetiere (GSM), Quickborn, Germany; Maritime Museum Stralsund, Germany; Latvian Museum of Natural History Riga, Latvia; Lithuanian Sea Museum Klaipéda, Lithuania; Havets Hus, Lysekil, Sweden; Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden, in collaboration with the Swedish NGO "Protect Whales Dolphins ".

For more information about the third International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise please visit the following websites:

Lithuanian Sea Museum: http://www.muziejai.lt/Klaipeda/juru_muziejus.en.htm
Natural History Museum Latvia: http://www.dabasmuzejs.gov.lv/en/
Havets Hus: http://www.havetshus.lysekil.se/
Swedish Museum of Natural History: http://www2.nrm.se/welcome.html.en
Protect Whales and Dolphins: http://www.reklamhusetgammelgarden.se/flipper.html
Museum Koenig: http://www.museumkoenig.uni-bonn.de/
GSM: http://www.gsm-ev.de/

12 April 2005, Hel Marine Station First Winner of the "ASCOBANS Award "  The 11th Meeting of the Advisory Committee, held in Jastrz #281;bia Góra, Poland, in April 2004, recommended the creation of a biennial award to be presented to an individual or institution in recognition of the best cetacean conservation-related PR/educational initiative.
On the occasion of the 12th Meeting of the Advisory Committee (Brest, France, 12-14 April 2005), the ASCOBANS award was presented for the first time. The jury unanimously decided in favour of the University of Gdansk Hel Marine Station, Hel, Poland, in recognition of their continuous and highly creative educational work. Special thanks are due to the Director of Hel Marine Station, Krzysztof Skora, and his Deputy, Iwona Kuklik, for their relentless and very successful effort to promote awareness of the situation of harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea.

The UNEP/ASCOBANS Secretariat welcomes nominations for the 2007 ASCOBANS award. Possible candidates can be brought to the attention of the Secretariat by Parties, NGOs or others. The nominees will be requested to produce a document to be presented to the working group supporting their initiatives. For further information, please see theTerms of Reference for the ASCOBANS Awardon this website.