Objectives and scope

The basic purpose of ACCOBAMS is to promote close cooperation in order "to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status" for cetaceans in the Black and Mediterranean Seas. An Annex to the Agreement contains an "indicative list" of cetaceans  to which the Agreement applies. The list identifies three species known to exist in the Black Sea and 18 species known to exist in the Mediterranean, including striped dolphin, which is believed to be suffering unsustainable incidental mortality from driftnets and other fishing gears in the Mediterranean, and other species which are caught incidentally in the Mediterranean. However, the Agreement is not restricted solely to these species and shall also apply to any other cetaceans "which may frequent the Agreement area accidentally or occasionally."

The indicative list of species in Annex I is as follows:

Black Sea: harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena); bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus); common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)

Mediterranean Sea: harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena); rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis); Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus); bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus); striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba); short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis); false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens); killer whale (Orcinus orca); long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas); Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris); Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris); sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus); dwarf sperm whale (Kogia simus); northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis); minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata); sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis); fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus); humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Participation

The Agreement is open for ratification or accession by any Range State, whether or not areas under its jurisdiction lie within the Agreement area, or any regional economic integration organization (at least one member of which is a Range State). "Range State" is defined as any State that exercises sovereignty and/or jurisdiction over any part of the range of a cetacean population covered by the Agreement, or a State, flag vessels of which are engaged in activities in the Agreement area which may affect the conservation of cetaceans.

Organizational structure

To implement its objectives, the Agreement provides for the establishment of a number of bodies, including: the Meeting of the Parties; a Bureau; two sub-regional coordination Units; a Scientific Committee; and a Secretariat.

Meeting of the Parties

The Meeting of the Parties, which is to meet at intervals of not more than three years, is the decision-making organ of the Agreement. The Meeting has a broad range of functions, including: reviewing scientific assessments of the conservation status of cetaceans; reviewing the implementation of the Agreement, and any difficulties encountered; and making recommendations to the Parties as it deems necessary or appropriate and adopt specific actions to improve the effectiveness of the Agreement.

Bureau

The functions of the Bureau, which comprises the chairperson and vice-chairpersons of the Meeting of the Parties, are to provide general policy guidance and operational and functional direction to the Secretariat and the Subregional Coordination Units, concerning the implementation and promotion of ACCOBAMS and to carry out any interim activities as may be necessary or assigned to it by the Meeting of the Parties.

Sub-regional coordination units

The functions of the Subregional Coordination Units, which are to be designated by the Meeting of the Parties, are to collect and evaluate information that will further the objectives and implementation of ACCOBAMS, service meetings of the Scientific Committee and prepare a series international reviews or reports on population status and trends, gaps in scientific knowledge, important areas for cetaceans and a directory of national authorities, scientists and NGOs concerned with cetaceans. In the Final Act of the Agreement, it was agreed that the units would be established, subject to confirmation by the First Meeting of the Parties (which was provided at that Meeting), within existing organizations, specifically the Regional Activities Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) (established under the Barcelona Convention) in the case of the Mediterranean coordination unit and the Black Sea Commission (established under the Bucharest Convention) in the case of the Black Sea coordination unit.

Scientific Committee

The Scientific Committee is, inter alia, to advise on the implementation of the Agreement, to conduct assessments of the status of species in the Agreement area and to help develop and coordinate monitoring programs. As for the sub-regional coordination units, it was agreed that the functions of this Committee would be entrusted to an existing organisation acting in the Agreement area and in the Final Act of the Agreement, it was agreed, subject to confirmation by the First Meeting of the Parties (which was provided at that Meeting), that the Expert Group on Marine Mammals of the International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea should act as the Agreement’s Scientific Committee.

Secretariat

The Secretariat is provided with a large range of functions of a general secretariat nature. Under the Agreement, it was originally envisaged that the Secretariat would be established within the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species, but at the First Meeting of the Parties it was decided that it would be be judicious, for practical reasons, to locate the Secretariat in a Range State and it was therefore decided that the Government of Monaco (which had provided interim Secretariat services) would host the Permanent Secretariat.

Main provisions and functions

The principal conservation measures under the Agreement are set out in a Conservation Plan, attached as an Annex to the Agreement. This Plan contains an express prohibition on the deliberate taking of cetaceans and requires parties to apply the precautionary principle in implementing measures taken under the Agreement. Broadly speaking the conservation plan address six matters: the adoption and enforcement of national legislation; assessment and management of human-cetacean interactions; habitat protection; research and monitoring; capacity building, collection and dissemination of information, training and education; and responses to emergency situations. Within these categories, the Conservation Plan sets out various measures which are to be implemented “to the maximum extent of [the] economic, technical and scientific capacities” of the Parties.

Included among the specific measures which parties are required to develop and implement are, inter alia, measures to: minimize the adverse effects of fisheries on cetaceans, including prohibiting the use of driftnets in excessive of 2.5 km in length; prevent fishing gear from being discarded at or left drifting in the sea; and regulate the discharge at sea of pollutants believed to have adverse effects on cetaceans. In addition, the parties are to cooperate, within the framework of the Barcelona Convention, to create a network of specially protected areas corresponding to the areas which serve as habitats for cetaceans and/or which might provide important food resources for them. Other measures concern the collection and analysis of data on direct and indirect interactions between humans and cetaceans; the conduct of research to find out more about such matters as population trends, migratory routes and breeding and feeding areas; and the development and implementation of emergency measures for cetaceans when exceptionally unfavourable or endangering conditions occur.