Excerpts from the Executive Summary: Bycatch is a major conservation and welfare issue for cetaceans in European waters. Harbour porpoises and common dolphins are frequently reported to be bycaught in static nets (gillnets and entangling nets) and trawls. Despite European legislation to monitor and mitigate cetacean bycatch in fisheries where it has a negative impact on the conservation status of a species, bycatch still occurs at high rates in several fisheries in the ASCOBANS Agreement Area. The lack of compliance by some countries has resulted in legal challenges from the European