ACCOBAMS Public Awareness Event in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey

On 20^th March, 2019, the ACCOBAMS Permanent Secretariat, in collaboration with the Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat and TUDAV, held a public awareness event in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey.

http://m.milliyet.com.tr/gozumuze-ilk-carpan-cop-yiginlari-gundem-2850902/ (Turkish language).

The purpose of this public event, back to back with the ACCOBAMS Master course (18 to 21 March 2019 Istanbul University), was to raise awareness on the urgent need to address the conservation of cetaceans in the Black Sea, to provide deeper knowledge on the relevant ACCOBAMS and Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat activities, in particular the unprecedent large scale effort coordinated by ACCOBAMS and involving Black Sea countries to estimate cetacean populations abundance and distribution in the Black Sea in summer 2019, as well as to present the structure and modalities of the ACCOBAMS Master course.

Following this event held in Istanbul and in the light of the two forthcoming events : ACCOBAMS Meeting of Parties also to be organized in Istanbul (5-8 November 2019) and the ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative (ASI) campaign to be carried out in the Black Sea through the EU-CeNoBS project, then the ACCOBAMS activities were presented in a Turkish TV program by Ms Irina Makarenko (Black Sea Commission) and Dr. Ayaka Ozturk (vice-Chair of the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee).