Cetaceans of the Mediterranean and Black Seas: State of Knowledge and Conservation Strategies SECTION 18 Conservation Needs and Strategies Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara1 and Alexei Birkun, Jr.2 1Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Applicata al Mare, via di Casalotti 300, 00166 Roma, Italy - [email protected] 2Laboratory of Ecology and Experimental Pathology, S.I. Georgievsky Crimean State Medical University, Lenin Boulevard 5/7, Simferopol, Crimea 95006, Ukraine - [email protected] To be cited as: Notarbartolo di Sciara G., Birkun A., Jr. 2002. Conservation needs and strategies. In: G. Notarbartolo di Sciara (Ed.), Cetaceans of the Mediterranean and Black Seas: state of knowledge and conservation strategies. A report to the ACCOBAMS Secretariat, Monaco, February 2002. Section 18, 21 p. A Report to the ACCOBAMS Interim Secretariat Monaco, February 2002 With the financial support of Coopération Internationale pour l’Environnement et le Développement, Principauté de Monaco GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (the Bern Conven- tion); the Barcelona Convention (which includes, This section of the report is conceived to pro- among others, a Protocol concerning Specially vide baseline information needed by managers Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance and decision makers in the process of devising and Biological Diversity containing precise obli- and implementing policies and strategies to en- gations for the Contracting Parties); the Conven- sure cetacean conservation and, wherever neces- tion on the Protection of the Black Sea against sary, recovery in the Mediterranean and Black Pollution (Bucharest Convention); the Conven- Seas. tion on Biological Diversity (CBD); the World Policies should be developed to form a basis Heritage Convention; and the Convention on the for the management of human activities affecting, Regulation of Whaling. In particular, as far as or likely to affect, cetaceans in the Agreement the Black Sea is concerned, all governments of area. Such policies will: the riparian countries have adopted a “Strategic provide the appropriate framework for the Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection development of remedial measures, guide- of the Black Sea” (Istanbul, 1996) which pro- lines and codes of conduct to regulate or motes concerted policy actions aimed to the re- manage human activities impacting on ceta- duction of pollution, the management of living ceans; resources, and the sustainable human develop- give priority to conserving those species or ment in the subregion. The box below contains a populations identified as having the least fa- quotation from that document (Section “Biolo- vourable conservation status; gical diversity protection”, Paragraph 62) de- voted to special measures for Black Sea marine stimulate the undertaking of research in areas mammals conservation. or for species for which there is a dearth of A number of different strategies aimed at the data; achievement and maintenance of the favourable indicate the need for impact assessments to conservation status of cetaceans in the Agree- provide a basis for either allowing or prohib- ment area are discussed in the following sections, iting the continuation or the future develop- as outlined in the Conservation Plan (Annex 2 of ment of activities that may affect cetaceans the Agreement). These include: or their habitat in the Agreement area, includ- 1. managing human activities (including fisher- ing fisheries, vessel traffic, military opera- ies, vessel traffic, whale watching, and ac- tions, offshore exploration and exploitation, tivities that cause cetacean habitat degrada- nautical sports, tourism and whale watching; tion and loss) to mitigate negative impacts establish the conditions under which such ac- on cetaceans; tivities may be conducted. 2. granting special protection to areas contain- In implementing these policies it will be par- ing critical cetacean habitats; ticularly important to take into account and act 3. undertaking targeted research and monitor- synergistically with other bodies playing a role in ing programmes; cetacean conservation. These include: (a) na- 4. providing for timely responses to emergency tional governments that are already actively en- situations; deavouring in cetacean conservation policies and 5. promotion of training, education and aware- measures, (b) non-governmental organisations ness programmes; that are active in the field of marine protection, 6. finally, with a special consideration for the and (c) international agreements and conventions. complex and different weight of the various Of these, the following are particularly relevant factors impacting on the different species to the issue of cetacean conservation: the parent present in the Agreement area (Table 17.1, convention to ACCOBAMS, the Convention on Section 17), a number of actions are pro- Migratory Species (CMS, the Bonn Convention); posed as having priority importance in the the Convention on International Trade in Endan- coming years. gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); Cetaceans of the Mediterranean and Black Seas – 18.2 Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea (Adopted by the Ministers of Environment on behalf of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, Istanbul, 31 October 1996) Paragraph 62. With the aim of restoring populations of marine mammals, the following measures shall be taken: a) A ban on the hunting of marine mammals will be enforced by all Black Sea states with immediate effect; b) Regular population assessments of marine mammals shall be conducted and the first assessment will be completed in 1998. It is advised that these assessments be coordinated by the Istanbul Commission, through its Advisory Group on the Conservation of Biological Diversity; c) The Centre for the Conservation of Biological Diversity in Butumi, Georgia, shall be provided with the necessary equipment in order to function as a regional rehabilitation centre for captive marine mammals; d) National centres and sanctuaries for the rehabilitation of marine mammals shall be strengthened; e) Consideration shall be given to modify fishing practices in order to avoid catching marine mam- mals, as by-catch, during normal operations. It is recommended that the Istanbul Commission, through its Advisory Groups on the Conservation of Biodiversity and its Interim Advisory Group on Fisheries, develop a strategy for the reduction of by-catches of marine mammals. MANAGING HUMAN ACTIVITIES TO not least as far as cetacean conservation is con- MINIMISE AND MITIGATE NEGATIVE cerned. Other policy aspects that would signifi- IMPACTS ON CETACEANS cantly benefit marine (and therefore cetacean) conservation in the Agreement area include the adoption, wherever possible, of a community- Article 2 of the Conservation Plan (Annex 2) based system of resource use, and of an ecosys- of the Agreement states: “Parties shall, in co- tem-based management approach. Furthermore, operation with relevant international organiza- the current lack of reliable, detailed and regularly tions, collect and analyse data on direct and in- updated information on fishery activities in the direct interactions between humans and cetace- Agreement area (including, among many other ans in relation to inter alia fishing, industrial and things, cetacean bycatch levels) is a major hin- touristic activities, and land-based and maritime drance to effective management (Caddy 1998). pollution. When necessary, Parties shall take ap- This would involve, among other things, the propriate remedial measures and shall develop promotion of co-ordinated, multidisciplinary re- guidelines and/or codes of conduct to regulate or search and monitoring to provide baseline bio- manage such activities.” The following sections logical information and to shed light onto ecosys- address in detail such recommendation. tem functioning. Fishery activities, being particularly intense in A. Mitigation of the negative effects of the Agreement area (see Section 4.4), may nega- interactions with fisheries tively affect cetacean survival in three main ways: (a) by causing mortality or damage through At the present moment, a system of fisheries accidental entanglement in active or discarded policy which is common to the entire region does fishing gear, (b) by subtracting prey through not exist. Rather, there is one policy common to overfishing, and (c) by causing direct mortality or the four EU member states, and separate policies damage through intentional kills deriving from for the remaining nations. Adopting a common competitive interactions (the use of cetacean policy on a basin-wide, or region-wide scale meat as fishing bait or as food being probably ir- would be highly desirable under many aspects, relevant in the area). These three main factors Cetaceans of the Mediterranean and Black Seas – 18.3 possess different modalities and dynamics and biology and behaviour of the cetacean species in- must be treated separately. volved (Reeves et al., in prep.). Time/area clo- Bycatch - One of the main problems in this sures are likely to be successful particularly when field is lack of reliable information. Data on ce- the bycatch problem is highly localised and pre- tacean bycatch is not collected on a regular basis dictable in time and space (Murray et al. 2000). in any fishery in the Agreement area, and too of- Encouraging alternative ways of fishing. This ten relevant knowledge is