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Background and Introduction
The conservation status of cetaceans in the Black and Mediterranean Seas has been a source of concern
for many years. This was reflected in the 1991 Action Plan of the Barcelona Convention and in the global
action plans for cetacean conservation published by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Species Survival
Commission’s Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) in 1988, 1989, 1994 and 2003. Two populations from the region
have already been listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – the Black Sea subspecies of the Harbour
Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena relicta) as Vulnerable (1996) and the Mediterranean subpopulation of Shortbeaked
Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) as Endangered (2003). Scientists working in the region have long
recognised the need for additional detailed assessments, expecting that other species and populations would
also qualify for threatened status.
An important development in the history of cetacean conservation in the region was the establishment in 2001 of
the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic
Area (ACCOBAMS) within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS) (http://www.accobams.org/). At the ACCOBAMS Meeting of Parties in 2004 the decision
was taken to seek a closer working relationship with IUCN. As a first step towards implementing that decision,
ACCOBAMS welcomed an opportunity to collaborate with the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in
Malaga by co-organising and co-sponsoring a Mediterranean/Black Sea Cetacean Red List Workshop.
The workshop was held at the Ministry of State in Monaco on 5-7 March 2006. Its stated purpose was to assess all
populations of Mediterranean and Black Sea cetaceans against the 2001 IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria
(Version 3.1). The IUCN Red List Authority for cetacean species and populations resides within the Cetacean
Specialist Group, and therefore the CSG played a central role in the workshop’s organization and conduct.
Randall Reeves, CSG chairman, and Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, CSG deputy chairman, co-organised the
workshop in consultation with the sponsoring bodies. Draft assessments commissioned from individual species
experts were circulated to all participants prior to the workshop. These draft assessments served as the basis for
workshop discussions, and the final versions reflect the consensus of participants (see Annex 3).
Randall Reeves chaired the workshop. Rapporteurs were assigned on an ad hoc basis. For each assessment,
the rapporteur worked with the assessor(s) to revise the draft to reflect the workshop discussions and decisions.
The draft assessments were subject to further editing by Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara after the workshop,
and the entire report, including the final draft assessments, was reviewed by participants before being declared
final. It was anticipated that, following publication of the workshop report, most or all of the assessments would
be submitted formally for review and endorsement by the Cetacean Red List Authority (a subcommittee within
the CSG) and then forwarded to the IUCN Red List Programme and the Global Mammal Assessment.
The workshop agenda is given in Annex 1; the list of participants is given in Annex 2.
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