During JUVENA survey, I had the opportunity of observing a killer whale Orcinus orca in the Bay of Biscay (47.34ºN, 4.77ºW) over the french continental shelf the 1st October 2012, 91 nm west of Vannes (Bretagne). This species is in the red list of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) with assessement information of data defficient (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15421/0). There is a cooperative project trying to compile all observations of killer whales in the Atlantic (http://www.northatlantickillerwhales.com/index.asp).

Something different happened to recreational fishermen in the Basque Country this summer, when they were fishing tuna: http://zuzeu.com/2013/09/30/atun-bila-joan-eta-orka-harrapatzen-duzunean/

Marine Important Bird Areas e-Atlas
Available at: http://maps.birdlife.org/marineIBAs/default.html

BirdLife International’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) programme identifies the most important sites for site-based conservation efforts. Since 2004 the BirdLife Global Seabird Programme has been working with the BirdLife Partnership to identify IBAs for seabirds both on land and at-sea. IBAs are chosen using semi-quantitative, standardised, internationally agreed criteria.  For seabirds, IBAs are identified based on the presence of more than threshold numbers of:

• Globally threatened species (IUCN Red List).
• Congregations (areas holding >1% of the global or, in some cases, biogeographic population).

The types of site that qualify as IBAs include seabird breeding colonies, foraging areas around breeding colonies, non-breeding (usually coastal) concentrations, migratory bottlenecks and feeding areas for pelagic species.

Source: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/info/marintro

European Atlas of the Seas

The atlas is an easy and fun way for students, professionals and anyone interested to learn more about Europe's seas and coasts, their environment, related human activities and European policies.

http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/atlas/index_en.htm

The European Commission has proposed fishing opportunities for 2014 for the Atlantic and the North Sea, as well as in international waters. This is the annual proposal for the amount of fish which can be caught by EU fishermen from the main commercial fish stocks next year.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1005_en.htm

Public consultation on ministerial order declaring 39 Special Protection Areas (SPAs, Bird Directive) for seabirds and 4 Sites of Community Importance (Habitats Directive) in Spain. In recent years, there have been two research projects that have yielded sound research to declare new Natura 2000 protected sites. The LIFE + project "Important Bird Areas (IBA) at sea in Spain ", developed by SEO/BirdLife involving the Ministry and the LIFE + project INDEMARES "Inventory and designation of Natura 2000 areas in marine areas of Spain". The latter project has been coordinated by Fundación Biodiversidadand and has different partners such as MAGRAMA, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas,de Oceanografía, ALNITAK, Coordinadora para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos (CEMMA), OCEANA, Sociedad para el Estudio de los Cetáceos en el Archipiélago Canario, SEO/BirdLife y WWF España.