Indicate which actions have been carried out to implement this Resolution :
Convene stakeholders/Networking
Policy influencing/advocacy
Describe the results/achievements of the actions taken:
N.B. This is a recommendation, not a resolution.
This recommendation focuses on reinforcing the protection of marine mammals through regional cooperation.
Among the achievements of actions taken by IUCN constituencies, one can cite the work on Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) conducted by the joint WCPA SCC Task Force on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (MMPA). Regional workshops to identify IMMAs were conducted, notably in the Southern Ocean with the support of the French Biodiversity Agency and North East Indian Ocean & South East Asian Seas, the Mediterranean sea and the Black sea thanks to the support of the German government via the multiyear GOBI IKI project. Results of these scientific expert workshops were presented in various policy / conservation fora as for example the ATCM and the Scientific Committee of CCAMLR for the IMMAs regional workshop for the Extended Southern Ocean region. In both cases, an Information Paper was jointly submitted by IUCN and SCAR to inform the decision-making processes in these fora to enhance the protection of marine mammals.
Lessons learnt from several Secretariat-led projects, for example on the conservation of Grey Whales, were picked up by the international community and States to promote effective measures to enhance the protection of marine mammals in several regions of the world ocean.
Advocacy and expertise of Members helped produced a number of studies in recent years, as for example the big report on whale migratory corridors.
In 2021, CCB (Coalition for the clean baltic) was part of writing a scientific paper on harbour porpoise conservation in European waters, which was published in Frontiers in Marine Science in February 2021. A questionnaire was also spread to gain information on how well-recognised the harbour porpoise is among European citizens. Moreover, in 2021 we initiated a collaboration with two Swedish adventurers starting a journey rowing across the Atlantic in December 2021 to raise awareness on the Baltic harbour porpoise. The results of the questionnaire were published in the UK journal Mammal News. Moreover, in summer 2021, a webinar was arranged together with the adventurers in conjunction to the Swedish political event Almedalen week.
In 2022, CCB has continued to disseminate knowledge about the Baltic harbour porpoise to the public, through both general CCB as well as dedicated social media channels and a CCB public petition #SaveTheBalticPorpoise, launched in April 2022. The petition #SaveTheBalticPorpoise collected over 120,000 signatures from the citizens of all the countries around the Baltic Sea and many others in Europe and globally, and was delivered to Virginijus Sinkevičius, the EU Commissioner on the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, in Helsinki, Finland, in November 2022.
What challenges/obstacles have been encountered in the implementation of this Resolution and how were they overcome :
A lack of time available and associated resources (staff time) to coordinate actions between the Secretariat and the Commissions and Members on the content of this recommendation is the major challenge encountered in the implementation of this Recommendation.
On the evolution of the context:
We note with great regret that, at the last meeting of the IWC in 2022, the adoption of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary failed despite the wish of several South American countries.
Briefly describe what future actions are needed for the implementation of this Resolution:
Expand the implementation of this recommendation to other regions, notably the South West Indian Ocean via engaging with the Nairobi Convention and the Carribean with the Cartagena Convention.
On networks of managers, explore this issue with MedPAN.
Reach to ACCOBAMS and ASCOBANS to assess how these existing mechanisms could be reinforced.
Identify where regional cooperation will be most important to be able to make recommendations on actionable steps.
The petition #SaveTheBalticPorpoise continues open. This is intended to be disseminated at the EU level and delivered to the Swedish Government for further action and implementation of protection measures in MPAs in Sweden.
Are these actions planned for yet:
