Published by: The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, Malaga, Spain. Suggested Citation: Reeves R., Notarbartolo di Sciara G. (compilers and editors). 2006. The status and distribution of cetaceans in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, Malaga, Spain. 137 pp. Product management by: Sonsoles San Roman Design and layout by: Chadi Abi Faraj Cover Photo: Renaud de Stephanis Cover Photo Caption: A bottlenose dolphin leaping on the bow wave of a large © 2006 International Union for Conservation of Nature ocean freighter in the Strait of Gibraltar, 27 March 2005. and Natural Resources The Status and Distribution of Cetaceans in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea Compiled and edited by Randall R. Reeves and Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara Workshop Report - Monaco 5-7 March 2006 i Contents Preface -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii Main Report Background and Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Methods --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Results ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Discussion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Literature cited ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Annex 1 - Workshop Agenda ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Annex 2 - List of Participants ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Annex 3 - Regular Species -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Annex 4 - Visitor Species ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91 Annex 5 - Vagrant Species -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 109 Annex 6 - Introduced Species ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 127 Annex 7 - Delphinus delphis, Mediterranean subpopulation (2003 Red List Assessment) ----------- 130 Annex 8 - Species reported to have occurred but that have not, or probably have not, occurred in the Mediterranean region ---------------------------------------------------------------- 137 ii Preface On behalf of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), it is a pleasure for me to introduce this first general assessment of the status of the cetaceans of the Mediterranean Sea. The ACCOBAMS Secretariat and the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation took this initiative following the meeting of the ACCOBAMS Contracting Parties in Palma de Majorca in 2004 that specifically requested the development of closer working relations between IUCN and ACCOBAMS in the frame of their Partnership established since 2002. We have chosen the theme of species population assessments to initiate our wider collaboration, building on the presence of an IUCN representative within the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee, and using the standardized IUCN assessment criteria that have been used for many years under the Red Listing process that has been widely accepted by International Conventions and by Governments and the scientific community as a clear and standardized methodology for assessing population status and recording population trends. ACCOBAMS convened the meeting of twelve experts from the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group, along with individual experts from the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee and RAC/SPA in March 2006, to assess the known status of the 10 species of cetaceans known to be regular in the region and the present report is a result of that work. This is a first step to establishing an agreed regional baseline against which population changes can be measured at a regional scale. The ACCOBAMS Secretariat will be submitting this report to the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee in November 2006 with a view to seeking its recommendations on how this report can serve the needs of the Agreement and its Parties. I am pleased to acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Monaco and the CMS Secretariat, as well as of the Junta of Andalucia and the Ministry for Environment of Spain that support the work of IUCN- Med. Marie-Christine VAN KLAVEREN ACCOBAMS Executive Secretary iii Background and Introduction The conservation status of cetaceans in the Black and Mediterranean Seas has been a source of concern for many years. This was reflected in the 1991 Action Plan of the Barcelona Convention and in the global action plans for cetacean conservation published by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Species Survival Commission’s Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) in 1988, 1989, 1994 and 2003. Two populations from the region have already been listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – the Black Sea subspecies of the Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena relicta) as Vulnerable (1996) and the Mediterranean subpopulation of Short- beaked Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) as Endangered (2003). Scientists working in the region have long recognised the need for additional detailed assessments, expecting that other species and populations would also qualify for threatened status. An important development in the history of cetacean conservation in the region was the establishment in 2001 of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) (http://www.accobams.org/). At the ACCOBAMS Meeting of Parties in 2004 the decision was taken to seek a closer working relationship with IUCN. As a first step towards implementing that decision, ACCOBAMS welcomed an opportunity to collaborate with the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in Malaga by co-organising and co-sponsoring a Mediterranean/Black Sea Cetacean Red List Workshop. The workshop was held at the Ministry of State in Monaco on 5-7 March 2006. Its stated purpose was to assess all populations of Mediterranean and Black Sea cetaceans against the 2001 IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (Version 3.1). The IUCN Red List Authority for cetacean species and populations resides within the Cetacean Specialist Group, and therefore the CSG played a central role in the workshop’s organization and conduct. Randall Reeves, CSG chairman, and Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, CSG deputy chairman, co-organised the workshop in consultation with the sponsoring bodies. Draft assessments commissioned from individual species experts were circulated to all participants prior to the workshop. These draft assessments served as the basis for workshop discussions, and the final versions reflect the consensus of participants (see Annex 3). Randall Reeves chaired the workshop. Rapporteurs were assigned on an ad hoc basis. For each assessment, the rapporteur worked with the assessor(s) to revise the draft to reflect the workshop discussions and decisions. The draft assessments were subject to further editing by Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara after the workshop, and the entire report, including the final draft assessments, was reviewed by participants before being declared final. It was anticipated that, following publication of the workshop report, most or all of the assessments would be submitted formally for review and endorsement by the Cetacean Red List Authority (a subcommittee within the CSG) and then forwarded to the IUCN Red List Programme and the Global Mammal Assessment. The workshop agenda is given in Annex 1; the list of participants is given in Annex 2. 1 Methods All cetacean species were assessed in 1996 against the 1994 criteria (Baillie and Groombridge 1996), and some species, subspecies and geographical populations (‘subpopulations’) have been reassessed since then against the 2001 criteria (see Reeves et al. 2003: their Table 1.1; also http://www.redlist.org). As explained in the Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional Levels (http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlists/ regionalguidelines.htm; also see Gärdenfors et al. 2001), listing of a species at the global population level can differ from listings at the subspecies or ‘subpopulation’ level. The scope of the present workshop was defined and delimited on a geographical basis, with the intent to assess the status of all cetaceans in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, some of which constitute endemic subspecies and others of which form geographically distinct ‘subpopulations’. For some or many of the species considered, an uncertain amount of genetic and/or demographic interchange with populations in the North Atlantic was either known or suspected to occur. ‘Units for assessment’ were therefore considered on a species-by-species basis. The decision to conduct complete assessments for 12 of these units was made on the basis of prior knowledge, as summarised by Notarbartolo di Sciara (2002). The Mediterranean subpopulation of Short-beaked