From the early days of the Agreement, one population caused scientists, conservationists and governments special concern: the Baltic Harbour Porpoise.

The preamble to the Agreement text negotiated in the early 1990s already makes it clear: “Aware that the population of harbour porpoises of the Baltic Sea has drastically decreased,” and “Concerned about the status of small cetaceans in the Baltic and North Seas”. We have thus known for a long time that harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea are in trouble. Twenty-five years later the problem is not solved yet. But we have come a long way. And the porpoises are still around!

This year, our thanks goes to the Hel Marine Station in Poland (www.hel.ug.edu.pl) for organizing the competition for the design of the ASCOBANS Season’s Greetings Card.

CMS and OceanCare signed a Partnership Agreement today to formalize their cooperation to better conserve aquatic and marine migratory species. CMS Executive Secretary, Bradnee Chambers, and OceanCare President, Sigrid Lüber, signed the agreement in the margins of the 45th Meeting of the CMS Standing Committee taking place from 9 to 10 November in Bonn, Germany.

Harbour Porpoises, Orcas and Common Dolphins are exposed to many threats. Bycatch, for example, kills large numbers of marine mammals in fishing nets. Ocean energy installations, leaching chemicals and submerged munitions from the two world wars impact their lives.