This Plan is adapted with the aim of restoring the population of NE Atlantic common dolphin to a favourable conservation status as this species population is facing ever-increasing anthropogenic pressures coming from bycatch, chemical pollution and noise disturbance. The actions fall under the headings: Monitoring; Research or Mitigation and are broken down into tasks to identify key activities that need to occur in order to achieve the action objectives. The Plan provides for monitoring of the NE Atlantic common dolphin population; human activities identified to pose potential risk to the species; implementation of mitigation measures and; the assessment of effectiveness of those measures. The Plan is designed in 6 Parts and contains 4 Annexes. In Section 5 Action Plans are presented for identifying priority bycatch issues, implementing and assessing gear modifications, implementing surveillance program, understanding of causes of seasonal and annual variation in abundance and distribution, monitoring of health and nutritional status, mitigating the risk of anthropogenic sound, and assessment of hazardous substances.
2019-08-27