Contents
Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area
Article I
Scope, Definitions and Interpretation
1. a) The geographic scope of this Agreement, hereinafter referred to as the
“Agreement area”, is constituted by all the maritime waters of the Black Sea and
the Mediterranean and their gulfs and seas, and the internal waters connected to
or interconnecting these maritime waters, and of the Atlantic area contiguous to
the Mediterranean Sea west of the Straits of Gibraltar. For the purpose of this
Agreement:
– the Black Sea is bounded to the southwest by the line joining Capes Kelaga and
Dalyan (Turkey);
– the Mediterranean Sea is bounded to the east by the southern limits of the
Straits of the Dardanelles between the lighthouses of Mehmetcik and Kumkale
(Turkey) and to the west by the meridian passing through Cape Spartel
lighthouse, at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar; and
– the contiguous Atlantic area west of the Strait of Gibraltar is bounded to the
east by the meridian passing through Cape Spartel lighthouse and to the west by
the line joining the lighthouses of Cape St. Vicente (Portugal) and Casablanca
(Morocco).
b) Nothing in this Agreement nor any act adopted on the basis of this Agreement
shall prejudice the rights and obligations, the present and future claims or
legal views of any State relating to the law of the sea or to the Montreux
Convention of 20 July 1936 (Convention concernant le regime des detroits), in
particular the nature and the extent of marine areas, the delimitation of marine
areas between States with opposite or adjacent [*784] coasts, freedom of
navigation on the High Seas , the right and the modalities of passage through
Straits used for International Navigation and the right of innocent passage in
territorial seas, as well as the nature and extent of the jurisdiction of the
coastal State, the flag State and the port State.
c) No act or activity undertaken on the basis of this Agreement shall constitute
grounds for claiming, contending or disputing any claim to national sovereignty
or jurisdiction.
2. This Agreement applies to all cetaceans that have a range which lies entirely
or partly within the Agreement area or that accidentally or occasionally
frequent the Agreement area, an indicative list of which is contained in Annex 1
to this Agreement.
3. For the purpose of this Agreement:
a) “Cetaceans”means animals, including individuals, of those species,
subspecies or populations of Odontoceti or Mysticeti;
b) “Convention”means the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals , 1979;
c) “Secretariat of the Convention”means the body established under Article IX
of the Convention;
d) “Agreement secretariat”means the body established under Article III,
paragraph 7, of this Agreement;
e) “Scientific Committee”means the body established under Article III,
paragraph 7, of this Agreement;
f) “Range”means all areas of water that a cetacean inhabits, stays in
temporarily, or crosses at any time on its normal migration route within the
Agreement area.
g) “Range State”means any State that exercises sovereignty and/or jurisdiction
over any part of the range of a cetacean population covered by this Agreement,
or a State, flag vessels of which are engaged in activities in the Agreement
area which may affect the conservation of cetaceans;
h) “Regional economic integration organization”means an organization
constituted by sovereign States which has competence in respect of the
negotiation, conclusion and application of international agreements in matters
covered by this Agreement;
i) “Party” means a Range State or a regional economic integration organization
for which this Agreement is in force;
j) “Subregion”, depending on the particular context, means either the region
comprising the coastal States of Black Sea or the region comprising the coastal
States of the Mediterranean Sea and the contiguous Atlantic area; any reference
in the Agreement to the States of a particular subregion shall be taken to mean
the States which have any part of their territorial waters within that
subregion, and States, flag vessels of which are engaged in activities which may
affect the conservation of cetaceans in that subregion; and
k) “Habitat”means any area in the range of cetaceans where they are temporarily
or permanently resident, in particular, feeding areas, calving or breeding
grounds, and migration routes.
In addition, the terms defined in Article I, subparagraphs 1 a) to e), and i) of
the Convention shall have the same meaning, mutatis mutandis, in this Agreement.
4. This Agreement is an agreement within the meaning of Article IV, paragraph 4,
of the Convention.
5. The annexes to this Agreement form an integral part thereof, and any
reference to the Agreement includes a reference to its annexes.
Article II
Purpose and Conservation Measures
1. Parties shall take co-ordinated measures to achieve and maintain a favourable
conservation status for cetaceans. To this end, Parties shall prohibit and take
all necessary measures to eliminate, where this is not already done, any
deliberate taking of cetaceans and shall cooperate to create and maintain a
network of specially protected areas to conserve cetaceans.
2. Any Party may grant an exception to the prohibition set out in the preceding
paragraph only in emergency situations as provided for in Annex 2, paragraph 6,
or, after having obtained the advice of the Scientific Committee, for the
purpose of non-lethal in situ research aimed at maintaining a favourable
conservation status for cetaceans. The Party concerned shall immediately inform
the Bureau and the Scientific Committee, through the Agreement secretariat, of
any such exception that has been granted. The Agreement secretariat shall inform
all Parties of the exception without delay by the most appropriate means.
3. In addition, Parties shall apply, within the limits of their sovereignty
and/or jurisdiction and in accordance with their international obligations, the
conservation, research and management measures prescribed in Annex 2 to this
Agreement, which shall address the following matters:
a) adoption and enforcement of national legislation;
b) assessment and management of human-cetacean interactions;
c) habitat protection;
d) research and monitoring;
e) capacity building, collection and dissemination of information, training and
Education ; and
f) responses to emergency situations.
Measures concerning fisheries activities shall be applied in all waters under
their sovereignty and/or jurisdiction and outside these waters in respect of any
vessel under their flag or registered within their territory.
4. In implementing the measures prescribed above, the Parties shall apply the
precautionary principle.
Conclusion
Notes
See Also
References and Further Reading
About the Author/s and Reviewer/s
Author: international
Mentioned in these Entries
Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area 2, Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area 3, Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Education, Flora and Fauna – Biodiversity conventions, High Seas, International Conventions from 1991, International Organizations, Straits used for International Navigation, country.