Bycatch is the single largest threat to many marine species across the world. To help prevent bycatch, during the 8th Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS), a Draft Resolution addressing the Monitoring and Mitigation of Small Cetacean Bycatch will be discussed.

Small cetaceans living in European waters – and many other parts of the world – share their home with a legacy from the past: tens of thousands of tonnes of munitions submerged in the water. The impacts of the underwater arsenal are still largely uncharted.

Contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) endangers the health and survival of many cetacean populations. To help tackle this threat, a Draft Resolution addressing the Impacts of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) will be discussed at the upcoming 8th Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS.

Boyan Slat made the headlines a few years ago when as a student he came up with an innovative idea to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste in the oceans; he was even one of the principal speakers at the opening ceremony of the most recent CMS COP (Quito, 2014).