**5. Results of a field survey on abundance and distribution of cetaceans in the Syrian waters of the ACCOBAMS Agreement**

In the framework of participating in the work of the ASI1 project launched at the Sixth Meeting of the Parties in ACCOBAMS2 (Monaco, 22–25 November 2016), with the aim of creating an integrated, collaborative, and coordinated monitoring system of the state of cetaceans within the ACCOBAMS region (Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Contiguous Atlantic Area), which was developed and implemented by the permanent secretariat of ACCOBAMS, in coordination and with the support of the riparian countries of the Mediterranean and local scientists, the author led a team of local experts. Researchers and trainees conducted visual surveys in Syrian territorial waters [14], where surveys were conducted onboard a ship chartered by the ASI Project called Okeanos, on two sets of perpendicular tracks on the coast (**Figure 3**) during the period: July 27 until August 8, and included 431 km of effort on track. The tracks cut a few miles from the Lebanese and Turkish borders. During the survey, five cetacean species were documented by sightings (**Table 2**) (**Figure 4**) [14, 15].
