17th ASCOBANS Advisory Committee Meeting AC17/Doc.8-03 (S) UN Campus, Bonn, Germany, 4-6 October 2010 Dist. 17 March 2010 Agenda Item 8 Any other Business Document 8-03 Report of the 6th Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS [MAP IN ANNEX 4 (PAGE 50) MISSING!] Action Requested Take note of the report Submitted by Secretariat NOTE: IN THE INTERESTS OF ECONOMY, DELEGATES ARE KINDLY REMINDED TO BRING THEIR OWN COPIES OF DOCUMENTS TO THE MEETING Secretariat’s Note 1. The Report of the 6th Meeting of the Parties (September 2009) was as yet not published in its final form. This is due to difficulties in the follow-up of the MOP6 decision to exchange the map contained in Appendix 1 of the draft version of the Jastarnia Plan forwarded to MOP6 (MOP6/Doc.7-01). The map of the Baltic Sea area was to be replaced in the final version of the Plan to be appended to Resolution No. 1 by one that shows the marine Natura 2000 sites in the Baltic Sea area. 2. Shortly after the MOP, the Secretariat contacted the European Environment Agency, explaining what type of map was needed. After a number of options had been identified, the one appearing to be most suitable was forwarded to the Jastarnia Group for their comments or approval. Regrettably, the map was found to contain a number of crucial omissions. 3. Since no suitable map could be found and upon recommendation of the chair of the Jastarnia Group, the Secretariat contacted an officer of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie), who had in the past already prepared maps for ASCOBANS. A tailor-made map, based on the official data provided by the European Environment Agency, is under preparation and will shortly be forwarded to the Jastarnia Group for their comments or approval. 4. Regrettably, the missing map in Annex 1 of Resolution 1 (page 50 of the MOP6 Report) prevented the Secretariat from publishing both the Report of the 6th Meeting of the Parties and the Resolution and its two Annexes, the Jastarnia Plan and Conservation Plan for Harbour Porpoises in the North Sea, in a timely fashion. 5. In order to make the Report of MOP6 and all its Annexes available to the Advisory Committee, the Secretariat decided to publish a preliminary version of the Report. The omission of the map is clearly marked both on this cover sheet and on page 50 of the document. Otherwise the Report is to be considered final and has been approved by the MOP6 Chair. 6. A complete version of the Report of the 6th Meeting of the Parties will be published as soon as a suitable map was prepared and approved by the Jastarnia Group. 6th Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS Report UN Campus, Bonn, Germany, 16-18 September 2009 REPORT OF THE 6TH MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO ASCOBANS 1. Opening of the Meeting Stefan Bräger (Germany), the Chair of the Advisory Committee, welcomed the participants to the meeting at 10.00 hrs on 16 September and introduced the Deputy Mayor of the City of Bonn, Ulrich Hauschild. Mr Hauschild also welcomed the participants to Bonn, which prided itself on its tolerance and open-mindedness. He recalled the occasion in the 1960s when a beluga whale was sighted in the Rhine. Bonn was an increasingly important UN centre with nineteen agencies dealing with development, sustainability and the environment, of which ASCOBANS was one of the longest established in the city. Cetacean conservation found a strong resonance with the public. He hoped delegates would have the opportunity to enjoy Bonn and its surroundings. Elsa Nickel (Germany) added her words of welcome on behalf of the Secretariat’s host government. She hoped delegates would be able to attend the dinner at the Opera restaurant hosted by Germany. Elizabeth Mrema (Secretariat) was pleased to welcome delegates to the UN Campus in Langer Eugen, facilities provided generously by the German Government. She explained that Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, had appointed her as officer-in-charge of CMS and ASCOBANS until the appointment of a permanent replacement, which was expected to be confirmed within a few months. She introduced Bert Lenten, the Executive Secretary of AEWA, who was acting as Deputy Executive Secretary of CMS. Turning to the agenda, she said that the assessment of the current Secretariat arrangements and the budget for the next triennium were of course key issues, but they should not deflect focus from the main purpose of the meeting, namely to improve the conservation status of small cetaceans in the Agreement Area. She called upon delegates to provide the Secretariat with the means to carry out the work programme and meet the challenges of the next triennium. The MOP should try to identify the niche where ASCOBANS could operate most effectively in the context of the range of MEAs and international organizations dealing with related issues. Similar exercises were being undertaken across the UN, including CMS which had instituted an inter-sessional process to review its structure for a decision at the next COP in 2011. 1.1 Adoption of Rules of Procedure Marco Barbieri (Secretariat) introduced MOP6/Doc.1-04, the rules of procedure. These were the same rules of procedure which had applied at MOP5. No party had indicated that any changes were necessary. The rules were adopted. In response to the suggestion made by Maj Munk (Denmark) that the rules of procedure should contain a deadline for the presentation of documents to the Meeting of Parties, Mr Barbieri noted that the Agreement had a provision requiring ninety days’ notice for any amendments to the text. Any proposals for streamlining the procedure for tabling documents would be welcome. It was agreed to take up this issue under agenda item 9, Any Other Business. 1 6th Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS Report UN Campus, Bonn, Germany, 16-18 September 2009 1.2 Election of Officers Stefan Bräger (Germany) invited nominations for the offices of Chair and Vice-Chair. Martin Lok (Netherlands) proposed Jussi Soramäki (Finland) as Chair and this was seconded by Trevor Perfect (UK). Elsa Nickel (Germany) nominated Paulus Tak (Belgium) as Vice-Chair and Christine Rappe (Sweden) seconded this proposal. The proposals were unanimously accepted. 1.3 Adoption of the Agenda The meeting adopted the agenda and the annotated agenda as set out in MOP6/Doc.1-01 rev 1 (reproduced in Annex 2 to this report) and MOP6/Doc.1-02. Heidrun Frisch (Secretariat) explained that the meeting would sit in plenary on the first day, split into two parallel working groups (one on administrative and one on technical matters) on the second and reconvene in plenary on the third. The Chairs of the Working Groups would be asked to give oral reports to plenary on the third day. These reports would be reflected in the final minutes to be adopted by correspondence. The meeting agreed that all sessions should be open to observers and consequently the restriction on some documents was also lifted. 1.4 Admission of Observers Heidrun Frisch (Secretariat) reminded the meeting of the provisions concerning the admission of observers. CMS, IWC, HELCOM, OSPAR and the ECS were entitled to be present under Article VI (2) (1) of the Agreement and were represented. ACCOBAMS, Coalition Clean Baltic, EUCC Coastal and Marine Union, IFAW, Sea Watch Foundation, The North Sea Foundation and WDCS had registered in accordance with rule 2 (2) of the Rules of Procedure and no Party had objected to their participation, so they were all admitted. 1.5 Establishment of Credentials Committee / Report Elizabeth Mrema (Secretariat) informed the meeting that the Heads of Delegations had proposed that the Credentials Committee should consist of France, UK and Lithuania, supported by the Secretariat. The meeting endorsed this proposal. After the Credentials Committee had examined the credentials, its chair, James Gray (UK), reported that the credentials received from all ten Parties and the one non-Party observer country were found to be in order. 2. Opening Statements Arnold Kreilhuber (UNEP) read a statement on behalf of Bakary Kante (Director of UNEP/Division of Environmental Law and Conventions) reiterating UNEP’s commitment to CMS and ASCOBANS, both of which contributed to the wider goals of environmental protection. ASCOBANS needed sufficient means to carry out its work and the Executive Director had commented on the three budget scenarios prepared for the Meeting. The deliberations at this Meeting also had broader implications in the context of international environmental governance, holding the potential of delivery on calls for more efficiency and synergies and in the implementation and management of MEAs. Øystein Størkersen (Norway) informed the meeting that, while his country was still a non- Party range state, the Environment Authorities recommended Norwegian accession to ASCOBANS. 2 6th Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS Report UN Campus, Bonn, Germany, 16-18 September 2009 David Johnson (OSPAR) emphasised three issues contained in his organisation’s statement: a Quality Status Report 2010 for which input from ASCOBANS would be welcome; ecological quality objectives for the North Sea, drawing on the ASCOBANS harbour porpoise bycatch objective; and marine spatial planning. Ralf Sonntag (IFAW) stressed two issues: bycatch of small cetaceans and noise pollution. He called on Parties to implement existing legislation more vigorously and to support the IMO working group developing technical guidelines on ship noise. Mark Simmonds (WDCS) drew attention to two new WDCS publications, one a key for the field identification of European cetacean species (copies of this were distributed to participants) and another dealing with the welfare aspects of bycatch.