The Wildlife and Countryside Act. 1981 (Section 9) prohibits deliberately killing, injuring or causing disturbance to any cetaceans. This reflects the requirements of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) and EC Directive on Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora (Council Directive 92/43/EEC, 21 May 1992). Cetaceans are listed in Annex IV 'Species of community interest in need of strict protection'. Harbour porpoise and bottlenose dolphins are also listed in Annex II 'Species of community interest whose conservation requires designation of special areas of conservation'. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 also makes it an offence to destroy or obstruct access to a structure or place which any cetacean species use for shelter, and to disturb them while they are occupying such a place.

The UK is also a signatory of ASCOBANS (the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas) which, amongst other things, aims to conserve and manage populations of small cetaceans. It requires states to 'work towards...the prevention of the release of substances which are a potential threat to the health of the animals, and the prevention of....disturbance, especially of an acoustic nature.'

The area covered by ASCOBANS includes the Shetland Isles, but excludes waters west of 5 degrees west and north of 62 degrees north latitude (the boundary formed by drawing a line through lat. 60 north/long. 5 west, lat. 61 north/long. 4 west and lat. 62 north and long. 3 west. Block 204 lies just within this area (as do most of the licensed blocks West of Shetland).

The BONN convention (UN Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, whose members are Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, UK and EU) aims to protect those species which regularly cross state boundaries, and is therefore particularly relevant to migratory species. The States through which threatened species travel are required to enter into agreements to protect these species throughout their entire range. Appendix 1 list species which are 'currently endangered and needing protection' (including the blue whale, humpback whale and northern right whale), whilst Appendix 2 includes species of 'unfavourable conservation status' which would benefit from protection (including North Sea populations of harbour porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, Risso's dolphin, white-sided dolphin, white-beaked dolphin, common dolphin and pilot whale). Despite the fact that the EU have ratified this agreement, little positive action has been taken to protect animals within the area (Thompson 1992) (Simmonds and Hutchinson 1993).

These agreements would appear to provide a good basis for the conservation of cetaceans, outlining a broad range of objectives with the aim of protecting habitats, migration routes and preventing harm or disturbance to cetaceans. In reality, they appear difficult to translate into positive action, and subsequently do not seem very effective (Simmonds and Hutchinson 1993). This is compounded by a lack of detailed information on the nature and extent of threats, and limited 'evidence' of demonstrable adverse effects on populations. It seems advisable to adopt a precautionary approach when dealing with the protection of cetaceans (Thompson 1992), especially in view of the uncertain status of cetaceans in British waters. Many species are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as 'insufficiently known' and several of the species which have been reported from these waters are listed as 'vulnerable' (humpback whale, sei whale) or 'endangered' (blue whale, northern right whale). Further study of the area is vital - both to substantiate that the area is important to cetaceans, and to ensure protection of critical habitats. Positive efforts should be made to assist the recovery of rare and endangered species (some of which were reduced to dangerously low levels in our waters by over exploitation in the past) and to minimise potential threats to other sensitive species and habitats.