Monitoring
Monitoring marine mammals is essential to understanding their conservation status and need for, and effectiveness of, management measures. Some of the marine mammal monitoring programmes supported by JNCC include:
- The Small Cetaceans in European Atlantic waters and the North Sea (SCANS) projects are organised at approximately decadal intervals with the aim of surveying north-eastern Atlantic cetacean populations. The surveys provide robust estimates of abundance for use in status and impact assessments.
- The Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) and sister programme the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) collect data on dead-stranded marine animals around the UK coast, identifying cause of death and key health information to aid monitoring of the pressures marine species are facing.
- The UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme places dedicated observers on board commercial fishing vessels, and looks at ways to reduce bycatch by, for example, carrying out trials on the effectiveness of acoustic “pinger” devices attached to nets to deter cetaceans.
- The Joint Cetacean Data Programme (JCDP) is a collaborative project led by JNCC, working towards an aspiration to deliver a growing resource of collated cetacean distribution data.
- The Special Committee on Seals (SCOS) has a duty, on behalf of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), to provide scientific advice to government on matters related to the management of seal populations.
Assessment and reporting
JNCC contributes to reporting progress on implementation of several key pieces of conservation legislation and multilateral agreements. This involves collating evidence on distribution, abundance and information on threats and pressures from the various monitoring schemes. Our obligations include:
- Supporting the UK’s 25 Year Environment Plan policies for securing clean, productive and biologically diverse seas and oceans; and protecting and improving our global environment.
- Reporting on cetacean and seal indicator assessments to support the UK Marine Strategy, the framework for achieving good environmental status (GES) in our seas.
- Reporting on the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy of the OSPAR Convention.
- Co-ordination of national reporting under ASCOBANS.
Management
Our role includes collaborating with the country nature conservation bodies, working groups and committees to manage highly mobile marine species throughout their wider range. This work includes:
- Provision of guidance on the mitigation of disturbance to marine mammals from human activities.
- Contributing to the Marine Scotland-led UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy, which assesses threats and pressures to the most vulnerable species and provides advice to the governments on possible measures.
- Identifying and proposing marine mammal Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in offshore waters.
- Developing advice on conservation management within MPAs in the form of site-specific Conservation Objectives (COs) and Advice on Operations.
Further information
Information on designated marine mammal protected areas in offshore waters can be found on our Site Information Centre webpages.
Recent relevant publications can be found on our Resource Hub.
For further information please contact us
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