Review the implementation of the EU regulation on the incidental catches of cetaceans- Conclusions

The proposed new technical measures framework includes the establishment of maximum by-catch limits for marine mammals. The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) has been requested to provide an overview of existing threshold approaches. Notably, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) developed a Removals Limit Algorithm (RLA) to determine limits on anthropogenic mortality of small cetaceans. In Europe, these issues were addressed at a joint ASCOBANS/IWC workshop (2000), which applied a simple population dynamics model to a nominal harbour porpoise population. The results indicated that a mortality rate of 1.7% of the population size would enable the population to reach and be maintained at 80% of its carrying capacity over the long term.