Gabon
Gabon Legal Protections
Country: Gabon
Section: Legal developments
Theme:
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabonese laws provide different levels of protection to cetacean species.
Gabonese wildlife is divided into three categories: fully protected (Appendix I), partially protected (II), and unprotected (III). The humpback whale is currently the only cetacean species on Appendix I. However, a revision of these appendices was drafted in 2015. If agreed - the revised Appendix I would include all great whales (Balaenidae, Balaenopteridae, Neobalaenidae, Physeteridae) as well as all beaked whales (Ziphiidae) that might occur and the Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) greatly threatened across its range. A revised Appendix II would include all remaining Delphinidae species known to occur in Gabonese waters.
External URL: http://www.gouvernement.ga/
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.intGabon Protected Areas
Country: Gabon
Section: Legal developments
Theme: Sanctuaries and protected areas
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon protects approximetly 26% of Gabon’s marine waters.
In Gabon, there are currently four marine protected areas (Akanda, Pongara, Loango and Mayumba). President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon announced in 2017 at the United Nations Ocean Conference in New York his country’s creation of a massive marine protected areas network consisting of 9 new marine parks and 11 aquatic reserves. This initiative expands Gabon’s protected waters by 53,000 sq. km, just over 26% of its Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
External URL: https://www.iucncongress2020.org/programme/official-programme/session-43416
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.intGabon Whale watching
Country: Gabon
Section: Information on WhaleWatching operations
Theme: Whale watching
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon has no whale-watching laws. Gabon's long-term development goals include expanding and diversifying ecotourism.
There are currently no legally enforced whale watching guidelines in Gabon. Gabon plans to expand and diversify ecotourism as part of its long-term development goals. WCS collaborated with Gabon's National Parks Agency (ANPN) and the General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGPA) to create whale watching guidelines for operators as well as a guide for tourists interested in going on Gabonese whale watching trips. In Gabon, whale watching operators continue to be poorly managed; there is no official process for registering and policing whale watching vessels. Guidelines based on internationally recognised standards (including those of the IWC) have been distributed, however. While compliance remains patchy, general behavioural improvements have been observed. Some areas, particularly Port Gentil, still require significant management effort for whale watching.
External URL: https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/en/country-profiles/gabon
Links to documents:
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wwhandbook/sidebar-images/_sidebarPromo/Gabon_Responsable-whale-observation-POSTER-WCS.jpgGabon Marine Conservation
Country: Gabon
Section: Current Government programs related to cetacean conservation
Theme: Bycatch, Sanctuaries and protected areas, Conservation Management plans
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon bleu is an ambitious government initiative to better conserve marine environments.
Gabon Bleu is a presidential marine conservation initiative to manage Gabon's coastal and oceanic waters and create a marine protected area network. Gabon Bleu also aims to improve industrial and artisanal fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and maritime security. Gabon Bleu works with local and international NGOs like WCS and WWF. Examples of the intiative's achievements include:
External URL: https://gabonvert.com/gabon-bleu/
1. New Fisheries and Aquaculture Agency (ANPA)
2. An Ocean Council (CNM)
3. New legislation to create fishing zones and better apply fisheries law.
4. Comprehensive marine zoning for sustainable management of marine resources
5. National control and management capacity
6. Two national observer programmes: one records catch and bycatch on tuna, shrimp, and trawler boats; the other records marine mammal observations on seismic vessels. These data are analysed along with company declarations to better characterise sector activity.
7. New fishing licences, boat registers, and monitoring are transforming the informal artisanal fishery sector. Artisanal communities have consulted about marine management zones. These zones are in the process of getting management plans.
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.intGabon Marine Conservation
Country: Gabon
Section: Current Government programs related to cetacean conservation
Theme: Bycatch, Sanctuaries and protected areas, Conservation Management plans
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon bleu is an ambitious government initiative to better conserve marine environments.
Gabon Bleu is a presidential marine conservation initiative to manage Gabon's coastal and oceanic waters and create a marine protected area network. Gabon Bleu also aims to improve industrial and artisanal fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and maritime security. Gabon Bleu works with local and international NGOs like WCS and WWF. Examples of the intiative's achievements include:
External URL: https://gabonvert.com/gabon-bleu/
1. New Fisheries and Aquaculture Agency (ANPA)
2. An Ocean Council (CNM)
3. New legislation to create fishing zones and better apply fisheries law.
4. Comprehensive marine zoning for sustainable management of marine resources
5. National control and management capacity
6. Two national observer programmes: one records catch and bycatch on tuna, shrimp, and trawler boats; the other records marine mammal observations on seismic vessels. These data are analysed along with company declarations to better characterise sector activity.
7. New fishing licences, boat registers, and monitoring are transforming the informal artisanal fishery sector. Artisanal communities have consulted about marine management zones. These zones are in the process of getting management plans.
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.intGabon Marine Conservation
Country: Gabon
Section: Current Government programs related to cetacean conservation
Theme: Bycatch, Sanctuaries and protected areas, Conservation Management plans
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon bleu is an ambitious government initiative to better conserve marine environments.
Gabon Bleu is a presidential marine conservation initiative to manage Gabon's coastal and oceanic waters and create a marine protected area network. Gabon Bleu also aims to improve industrial and artisanal fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and maritime security. Gabon Bleu works with local and international NGOs like WCS and WWF. Examples of the intiative's achievements include:
External URL: https://gabonvert.com/gabon-bleu/
1. New Fisheries and Aquaculture Agency (ANPA)
2. An Ocean Council (CNM)
3. New legislation to create fishing zones and better apply fisheries law.
4. Comprehensive marine zoning for sustainable management of marine resources
5. National control and management capacity
6. Two national observer programmes: one records catch and bycatch on tuna, shrimp, and trawler boats; the other records marine mammal observations on seismic vessels. These data are analysed along with company declarations to better characterise sector activity.
7. New fishing licences, boat registers, and monitoring are transforming the informal artisanal fishery sector. Artisanal communities have consulted about marine management zones. These zones are in the process of getting management plans.
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.intGabon Research Projects
Country: Gabon
Section: Current Government programs related to cetacean conservation
Theme: Cooperation and Research
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Cetacean surveys in Gabon have been conducted from five different field sites. These have had several objectives such as assesing population density, abundance and population dynamics;.
Cetacean surveys in Gabon have been conducted from five different field sites: Pongara (2012), Port Gentil (2000, 2012, 2014), Iguéla (2001-2005), Gamba (2000 and 2002) and Mayumba (2005-2011). Surveys have also been conducted in partnership with other agencies (including a cooperative COMHAFAT survey in 2011 and the EAF-Nansen project in 2014). Research has included, inter alia: surveys to assess humpback whale seasonal population density, relative and total population abundance and population dynamics; satellite tagging to ascertain humpback whale movement patterns and habitat use; behavioural studies of humpback whales and humpback dolphins; and the collection of tissue samples from free swimming cetaceans and strandings - for genetic research.
External URL: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpops/3/0/3_2020S009/_pdf
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.intGabon Cetacean Conservation
Country: Gabon
Section: Current Government programs related to cetacean conservation
Theme: Other
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon is one of the country members of the IWC - Task Team on the Atlantic Humpback dolphin
The IWC- Africa-Focused Sousa Task Team was established in early 2020 in response to repeated warnings of the severe decline of both species of Sousa (Atlantic and Indian Ocean humpback dolphins) that occur off the coast of Africa. The focus of this Task Team is to develop a comprehensive framework of conservation actions. This is the largest Task Team to-date, with 35 members from 14 African countries, and the scale reflects the challenges, due to both the magnitude of the problems facing Sousa in Africa, and the geographical scale involved.
External URL: https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/smallcetacean/task-teams
Links to documents:
https://archive.iwc.int/pages/download_progress.php?ref=17433&search=&order_by=relevance&offset=0&restypes=&starsearch=&archive=&per_page=0&default_sort_direction=DESC&sort=DESC&context=Root&k=&curpos=&size=&ext=pdfGabon International Cooperation
Country: Gabon
Section: International cooperation activities
Theme: Cooperation and Research
Date started:
Date ended:
Status: Active
Gabon is a member of several international agreements.
Gabon became a contracting party to CITES in 1989 and became a signatory to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in 2008. Gabon signed the CMS Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia in 2008.
External URL: https://www.cms.int/en/country/gabon
Links to documents:
exe:
https://iwc.int/
https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/
https://archive.iwc.int