UK Cetacean Conservation Strategy
Strategy to support the conservation and protection of cetaceans in UK waters, contributing to the UK’s vision for clean, healthy, safe, productive, and biologically diverse oceans and seas.
Objectives
The objectives of the Strategy are to:
1. Identify the most important pressures and threats acting on UK cetaceans, assess how they are currently being managed and whether there are gaps in the evidence base and/or management that need to be addressed.
2. Provide a framework to support delivery of action to address pressures and threats acting on UK cetaceans, with a focus on those identified under the high-level recommendations, where there is evidence of the highest vulnerability.
3. Support delivery of cetacean research and a programme of monitoring to improve our understanding of cetacean population status and assess the effectiveness of management to reduce threats and pressures facing UK cetaceans.
4. Raise awareness of the conservation, environmental economic and cultural importance of cetaceans, and promote their long-term protection in UK waters.
5. Encourage collaboration with our international partners to share knowledge and manage threats and pressures acting on cetacean species, delivering on international obligations to protect cetaceans globally.
Climate change presents a threat to biodiversity and action is being taken globally to tackle this. The Strategy therefore does not duplicate this work but instead focuses on identifying where action can be taken to build resilience in cetacean species. We will therefore integrate consideration of climate change into the development of practical solutions to the impact of pressures.
Contact
Email: marine_species@gov.scot