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Wednesday 6 November 2013

Dateline Tangier 2

ACCOBAMS Meeting of Parties: day two.

Many delegates meet early in the morning and are huddled over various texts. The discussion about the scientific committee composition has emerged as of potato of some heat and parties (only) meet to discuss how to resolve this.

Later, Dr Lindy Weilgart of Dalhousie University makes a presentation on the effects of noise on beaked whales to the meeting.  She is rewarded with applause.
Lindy Weilgart

Early in the meeting the Chair asks how the noise resolutions are progressing and is promised texts by tomorrow.

The meeting plows through its documents approving and amending as necessary and, come the afternoon, the Parties and Partners hold their first vote for membership of the ‘follow-up committee’ (a body tasked with advising the parties).

Ballot papers are collected and inspected. Delegates from France, Spain and Tunisia are appointed. For the partner organisations, three organisations dramatically tie for two places and, one of them, OceanCare kindly withdraws its candidature.

This is all unprecedented.

Outside, the palm trees along the seafront move gently in the breeze under a blue sky. They are largely unmoved by the proceedings.

The discussion about who sits in the Scientific Committee continues. Similarly the noise scribes were still working and debating late into the night….



One of Dr Weilgart's slides - a PDF of the full presentation can be seen here on the Ocean Care site.
Giuseppe Notobartolo di Sciara of the Tethys Institute

Sigi Luber and Nicolas Entrup of OceanCare/NRDC

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