Decreto n.º 19/2004

TEXTO :

Decreto n.º 19/2004

de 2 de Agosto

Relembrando que a Convenção sobre a Conservação das Espécies Migradoras da Fauna Selvagem, concluída em Bona em 24 de Julho de 1979, aprovada, para ratificação, pelo Decreto n.º 103/80, de 11 de Outubro, encoraja a cooperação internacional com vista à conservação de espécies migradoras;

Relembrando igualmente que a 3.ª reunião da Conferência das Partes à Convenção, realizada em Genebra em Setembro de 1991, incitava os Estados da área de distribuição a colaborarem, sob os auspícios da Convenção, com vista à celebração de um acordo multilateral para a conservação dos pequenos cetáceos do mar Mediterrâneo e do mar Negro;

Reconhecendo que os cetáceos são uma parte integrante do ecossistema marinho, que deve ser conservado para benefício das gerações presentes e futuras, e que a sua conservação é uma preocupação comum;

Reconhecendo a importância de integrar as acções dirigidas à conservação dos cetáceos com o desenvolvimento sócio-económico das Partes abrangidas por este Acordo, incluindo actividades marítimas como a pesca e a livre circulação de navios de acordo com a legislação internacional;

Realçando a necessidade de promover e facilitar a cooperação entre Estados, organizações regionais de integração económica, organizações intergovernamentais e do sector não governamental para a conservação dos cetáceos do mar Negro, mar Mediterrâneo, águas que os interconectam e da área atlântica adjacente, no âmbito do n.º 4 do artigo IV da Convenção sobre a Conservação de Espécies Migradoras Pertencentes à Fauna Selvagem, concluída em Bona em 24 de Julho de 1979, os Estados, reunidos no Mónaco em 24 de Novembro de 1996, aprovaram o Acordo sobre a Conservação de Cetáceos no Mar Negro, Mar Mediterrâneo e Área Atlântica Adjacente;

Considerando que este Acordo é constituído por um conjunto de medidas que visam alcançar e manter um estatuto de conservação favorável para os cetáceos, bem como cooperar para a criação e manutenção de uma rede de áreas protegidas para a sua conservação;

Atendendo a que, através do presente Acordo, se pretende também integrar as diversas acções dirigidas à conservação dos cetáceos com o desenvolvimento sócio-económico das Partes abrangidas, incluindo as actividades marítimas, como a pesca e a livre circulação de navios de acordo com a legislação internacional;

Tendo em conta que este Acordo permite ainda promover e facilitar a cooperação entre Estados, organizações regionais de integração económica, organizações intergovernamentais e não governamentais para a conservação dos cetáceos no mar Negro, mar Mediterrâneo, águas que os interconectam e da área atlântica adjacente:

Assim:

Nos termos da alínea c) do n.º 1 do artigo 197.º da Constituição, o Governo aprova o Acordo sobre a Conservação de Cetáceos no Mar Negro, Mar Mediterrâneo e Área Atlântica Adjacente, assinado no Mónaco em 24 de Novembro de 1996, cujo texto, na versão autenticada em língua inglesa e respectiva tradução em língua portuguesa, se publica em anexo.

Visto e aprovado em Conselho de Ministros de 15 de Junho de 2004. - José Manuel Durão Barroso - Maria Manuela Dias Ferreira Leite - Maria Teresa Pinto Basto Gouveia - Armando José Cordeiro Sevinate Pinto - Arlindo Marques da Cunha.

Assinado em 14 de Julho de 2004.

Publique-se.

O Presidente da República, JORGE SAMPAIO.

Referendado em 16 de Julho de 2004.

O Primeiro-Ministro, José Manuel Durão Barroso.

AGREEMENT ON THE CONSERVATION OF CETACEANS OF THE BLACK SEA, MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND CONTIGUOUS ATLANTIC AREA (ACCOBAMS), SIGNED AT MONACO ON THE 24th NOVEMBER 1996.

The Parties:

Recalling that the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, 1979, encourages international co-operative action to conserve migratory species;

Recalling further that the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, held in Geneva in September 1991, urged Range States to collaborate with a view to concluding, under the Convention's auspices, a multilateral agreement for the conservation of small cetaceans of the Mediterranean and Black Seas;

Recognizing that cetaceans are an integral part of the marine ecosystem which must be conserved for the benefit of present and future generations, and that their conservation is a common concern;

Recognizing the importance of integrating actions to conserve cetaceans with activities related to the socio-economic development of the Parties concerned by this Agreement, including maritime activities such as fishing and the free circulation of vessels in accordance with international law;

Aware that the conservation status of cetaceans can be adversely affected by factors such as degradation and disturbance of their habitats, pollution, reduction of food resources, use and abandonment of non-selective fishing gear, and by deliberate and incidental catches;

Convinced that the vulnerability of cetaceans to such threats warrants the implementation of specific conservation measures, where they do not already exist, by States or regional economic integration organizations that exercise sovereignty and/or jurisdiction over any part of their range and by States flag vessels of which are engaged outside national jurisdictional limits in activities that may affect the conservation of cetaceans;

Stressing the need to promote and facilitate co-operation among States, regional economic integration organizations, intergovernmental organizations and the non governmental sector for the conservation of cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, the waters which interconnect these seas, and the contiguous Atlantic area;

Convinced that the conclusion of a multilateral agreement and its implementation through co-ordinated, concerted actions will contribute significantly to the conservation of cetaceans and their habitats in the most efficient manner and will have ancillary benefits for other species;

Acknowledging that, despite past or ongoing scientific research, knowledge of the biology, ecology, and population dynamics of cetaceans is deficient and that it is necessary to develop co-operation for research and monitoring of these species in order to fully implement conservation measures;

Acknowledging further that effective implementation of such an agreement will require that assistance be provided, in a spirit of solidarity, to some Range States for research, training, and monitoring of cetaceans and their habitats, as well as for the establishment or improvement of scientific and administrative institutions;

Recognizing the importance of other global and regional instruments of relevance to the conservation of cetaceans, signed by many Parties, such as the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, 1946; the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, 1976, its related protocols and the Action Plan for the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea adopted under its auspices in 1991; the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, 1979; the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982; the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992; the Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution, 1992, and the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Management and Utilization of Marine Mammals of the United Nations Environment Programme, adopted in 1984; as well as initiatives of inter alia the General Fisheries Council for Mediterranean, the International Commission for Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean, and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas;

have agreed as follows:

Article I

Scope, definitions and interpretation

1 - a) The geographic scope of this Agreement, hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement area», is constituted by all the maritime waters of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and their gulfs and seas, and the internal waters connected to or interconnecting these maritime waters, and of the Atlantic area contiguous to the Mediterranean Sea west of the Straits of Gibraltar. For the purpose of this Agreement:

The Black Sea is bounded to the southwest by the line joining Capes Kelaga and Dalyan (Turkey);

The Mediterranean Sea is bounded to the east by the southern limits of the Straits of the Dardanelles between the lighthouses of Mehmetcik and Kumkale (Turkey) and to the west by the meridian passing through Cape Spartel lighthouse, at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar; and

The contiguous Atlantic area west of the Strait of Gibraltar is bounded to the east by the meridian passing through Cape Spartel lighthouse and to the west by the line joining the lighthouses of Cape St. Vicente (Portugal) and Casablanca (Morocco).

2 - This Agreement applies to all cetaceans that have a range which lies entirely or partly within the Agreement area or that accidentally or occasionally frequent the Agreement area, an indicative list of which is contained in annex 1 to this Agreement.

3 - For the purpose of this Agreement:

In addition, the terms defined in article I, subparagraph 1, a) to e) and i), of the Convention shall have the same meaning, mutatis mutandis, in this Agreement.

4 - This Agreement is an agreement within the meaning of article IV, paragraph 4, of the Convention.

5 - The annexes to this Agreement form an integral part thereof, and any reference to the Agreement includes a reference to its annexes.

Article II

Purpose and conservation measures

1 - Parties shall take co-ordinated measures to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status for cetaceans. To this end, Parties shall prohibit and take all necessary measures to eliminate, where this is not already done, any deliberate taking of cetaceans and shall co-operate to create and maintain a network of specially protected areas to conserve cetaceans.

2 - Any Party may grant an exception to the prohibition set out in the preceding paragraph only in emergency situations as provided for in annex 2, paragraph 6, or, after having obtained the advice of the Scientific Committee, for the purpose of non-lethal in situ research aimed at maintaining a favourable conservation status for cetaceans. The Party concerned shall immediately inform the Bureau and the Scientific Committee, through the Agreement secretariat, of any such exception that has been granted. The Agreement secretariat shall inform all Parties of the exception without delay by the most appropriate means.

3 - In addition, Parties shall apply, within the limits of their sovereignty and/or jurisdiction and in accordance with their international obligations, the conservation, research and management measures prescribed in annex 2 to this Agreement, which shall address the following matters:

Measures concerning fisheries activities shall be applied in all waters under their sovereignty and/or jurisdiction and outside these waters in respect of any vessel under their flag or registered within their territory.

4 - In implementing the measures prescribed above, the Parties shall apply the precautionary principle.

Article III

Meeting of the Parties

1 - The Meeting of the Parties shall be the decision-making body of this Agreement.

2 - The Depositary shall convene, in consultation with the Secretariat of the Convention, a session of the Meeting of the Parties to this Agreement not later than one year after the date of its entry into force. Thereafter, the Agreement secretariat shall convene, in consultation with the Secretariat of the Convention, ordinary sessions of the Meeting of the Parties at intervals of not more than three years, unless the Meeting of the Parties decides otherwise.

3 - The Agreement secretariat shall convene an extraordinary session of the Meeting of the Parties on the written request of at least two thirds of the Parties.

4 - The United Nations, its Specialized Agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency, any State not a Party to this Agreement, secretariats of other global and regional conventions or agreements concerned inter alia with the conservation of cetaceans, and regional or subregional fisheries management organizations with competence for species found temporarily or permanently resident in the Agreement area may be represented by observers in sessions of the Meeting of the Parties. Any other agency or body technically qualified in the conservation of cetaceans may be represented at sessions of the Meeting of the Parties by observers, unless at least one third of the Parties present object. Once admitted to a session of the Meeting of the Parties, an observer shall continue to be entitled to participate in future sessions unless one third of the Parties object at least thirty days before the start of the session.

5 - Only Parties have the right to vote. Each Party shall have one vote. Regional economic integration organizations which are Parties to this Agreement shall exercise, in matters within their competence, their right to vote with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States which are Parties to the Agreement. A regional economic integration organization shall not exercise its right to vote if its member States exercise theirs and vice versa.

6 - All decisions of the Meeting of the Parties shall be adopted by consensus except as otherwise provided in article X of this Agreement. However, if consensus cannot be achieved in respect of matters covered by the annexes to the Agreement, a decision may be adopted by a two thirds majority of the Parties present and voting. In the event of a vote, any Party may, within one hundred and fifty days, notify the Depositary in writing of its intention not to apply the said decision.

7 - At its first session, the Meeting of the Parties shall: