Cetaceans in the Mediterranean and Black Seas New report on the status of porpoises, dolphins and whales now available Porpoises, dolphins and whales of many kinds abounded in the Black and Mediterranean seas when humans arrived and for millennia thereafter. Over the last few centuries and especially the 19th and 20th, however, the numbers and range of these aquatic mammals have dwindled as a result of human actions -- in some cases deliberate and in some cases accidental. Concern for the conservation status of cetaceans in the Black and Mediterranean Seas 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 Short-beaked 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. Fortunately, an expanding cadre of dedicated researchers have been working hard to bring attention to the plight of Black Sea and Mediterranean cetaceans, with the hope of stemming the decline and supporting recovery. One important dimension of that effort is to marshal authoritative information on the status of the various species and to highlight specific areas or types of activity that require urgent attention. With this objective, a 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. 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). 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 the opportunity to collaborate with the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in Malaga by co-organising and co-sponsoring the Mediterranean/Black Sea Cetacean Red List Workshop. This compilation, provided jointly by IUCN-MED and ACCOBAMS, should give governments, industries, recreationists, militaries and environmental activists in the region a common starting point for deciding how and where to allocate limited resources as they try to repair the damage and prevent further harm to ecosystems which are still, quite literally, under assault. Following publication of the workshop report, assessments will be submitted for review and endorsement by the Cetacean Specialist Group and then forwarded to the IUCN Red List Programme and the Global Mammal Assessment. The report is available at: <http://iucn.org/places/medoffice/en/index.html>http://iucn.org/places/medoffice/en/index.html (includes versions in English, Spanish and French), and <http://www.accobams.org/2006.php/publications/all>http://www.accobams.org/2006.php/publications/all (English only) Randall R. Reeves Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara