Dear MARMAM community, on behalf of my colleagues at the European Commission Joint Research Center, I am pleased to share with you our two recently published reports, freely accessible at the links provided: Vessel strikes as a pressure to marine biodiversity ABSTRACT: Marine mammals and other marine megafauna are subject to a variety of impacts related with human activities. Among those, the collisions with vessels (generally known as ship strikes, or vessel strikes) are a significant source of death and severe injuries for large cetacean species, such as fin whales or sperm whales, especially in areas that are subject to intense maritime traffic, such as the Mediterranean Sea. Other large marine vertebrates, such as sea turtles or whale sharks, are also affected by this issue, but limited information is available on the incidence of vessel strikes on species other than cetaceans. Within the EU waters, stranding networks are actively collecting information on the causes of death of cetaceans, seals, and sea turtles that strand along the coastlines, while a number of research projects, NGOs and research institutions that monitor live megafauna in the open sea to assess their abundance and distribution also collect information on the concurrent incidence of threats, such as those related to maritime traffic. This report addresses the issue of vessel strikes as a pressure to marine biodiversity, including information on monitoring, impacts, and potential mitigation measures, through a review of the scientific literature and reports produced within the international agreements in place to deal with marine mammal research and conservation, as well as by directly addressing the institutions dealing with strandings and live megafauna monitoring through a dedicated questionnaire on this issue. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC141996 Monitoring of strandings in European waters: state of play ABSTRACT: Marine mammals and other marine megafauna are subject to a variety of impacts related with human activities. Within the EU waters, stranding networks are actively collecting information on the causes of death of cetaceans, seals, and sea turtles that strand along the coastlines. However, despite the effort made by international agreements to coordinate stranding networks within the European basins and standardise their operational procedures, large differences still exist among European stranding networks. This report addresses this issue with the aim to identify the level of structuring, operational approaches, data collection standards and data pathways, across these networks, through a review of the scientific literature and reports produced within the international agreements in place to deal with marine mammal research and conservation, as well as by directly addressing the institutions dealing with strandings through an online survey. The survey was designed to assess to which extent data are collected, how (i.e., use of dedicated protocols), and where they are stored (i.e., use of common repositories), with a specific focus on the assessment of three major anthropic impacts (marine litter ingestion, vessel strikes and fisheries interactions), to identify the major gaps and needs for improvement in data collection and reporting at EU level. Strandings report: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC141997 Hoping these find your interest, please feel free to share among your colleagues and do not hesitate to contact me for further information. Sincerely, Morgana -- Morgana Vighi, PhD +34 633656763 +39 3273244117 skype: morgana.vighi