International legal framework: how cetaceans are protected

From the great global conventions to regional sanctuaries, a genuine legal web protects cetaceans. CITES bans trade in the great whales, the moratorium of the International Whaling Commission has set commercial quotas at zero since 1986, and agreements such as ACCOBAMS or the Pelagos Sanctuary operate at the scale of the Mediterranean.

The widget above presents ten key instruments: global treaties, regional agreements, national laws (the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Habitats Directive) and whale sanctuaries. Filter by type to see who protects what, and where.

How these protections apply in France

France is party to almost all of these instruments: CITES, the Bonn Convention (CMS), ACCOBAMS, the Pelagos Sanctuary and the European Habitats Directive. In domestic law, the order of 1 July 2011 gives full protection to every cetacean present in French waters: it is forbidden to kill them, to capture them, to disturb them intentionally or to keep them.

These instruments overlap: one and the same Mediterranean fin whale is covered at once by the Pelagos Sanctuary, by ACCOBAMS, by Annex IV of the Habitats Directive and by national law. Offences fall under the Code de l’environnement and can carry heavy criminal penalties.

Further reading: see the marine sanctuaries around the world, the marine protected areas and the history of whaling that made these protections necessary.