On October 08, ASCOBANS released the workshop report following the success of the ‘Management of MPAs for Small Cetaceans’ workshop held 18 May and 7-9 June 2021.
This ASCOBANS Workshop on the Management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for Small Cetaceans was mandated by the 25th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee. At this meeting, it was agreed that effective management of MPAs for small cetaceans was lacking and that a toolbox of suitable conservation measures would be useful, especially for MPA managers that are not cetacean experts.
The workshop aimed to discuss and share experiences on best practice approaches to MPA management, taking them beyond being mere ‘pa- per parks’, in order to make recommendations to ASCOBANS Parties.
The discussions on conservation objectives and measures focused on seven different threats to small cetaceans that were thought to be relevant to MPA management: Bycatch; Impulsive/acute underwater noise; Continuous/chronic underwater noise; Prey depletion; Environmental contaminants and pollutants; Disturbance from the presence of humans; and Habitat quality.
