The “ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative”(ASI) is a pilot programme aimed at establishing an
integrated and coordinated monitoring system for cetaceans across the Agreement on the
Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic
(hereafter “ACCOBAMS”) area. Conducted in coordination with Mediterranean coastal
countries, it supports the implementation of European and regional policies, in particular the
EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Ecosystem Approach process. In summer …

The need for monitoring programmes at large spatial and temporal scales aimed at
assessing changes in species distributions and abundances, and to predict long-term
biological responses to anthropogenic pressures and global changes is widely recognized
(Balmford et al., 2005; Green et al., 2005; Pereira and Cooper, 2006). These programmes
are also crucial to inform and implement conservation actions and to evaluate the efficacy of
management (Grand et al., 2007). However, it is difficult to obtain robust estimates of these …