De l'interaction entre la peche et les mammiferes marins

The exploitation of the living marine resources should take into account the effects on marine ecosystems. It consequently includes direct and indirect impacts of fishing activities on marine communities of non-market value for the fishing industry. Protecting the marine species victims of by-catch such as sea mammals is essential as it could be a serious threat for endangered species -See COM (1999) 363 final. The entire group of cetaceans are among the protected species listed by CITES against over-exploitation through international trade. Similarly, several international agreements on cetaceans conservation have been signed, including the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS), the ACCOBAMS agreement for the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, and the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean that recommends a specific conservation area in the Mediterranean Sea,.... Regarding the European Union waters, the central tenet of the EU Habitats directive 92/43/CEE on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna is to maintain at, or restore to, favourable conservation status, the habitats and species of environmental importance. This directive, in annex II, lists the Bottlenose Dolphin and the harbour porpoise as species that require the designation of special areas of conservation. Small cetaceans are one of the more high profile victims of accidental catches in fisheries although some fishing industry incidentally catches other mammals (seals, whales...). This chapter aims at better defining and understanding the interactions between fishing activities and the populations of sea mammals.