 While the WWF praised ASCOBANS’ efforts towards bycatch reduction in 2001, it voiced criticism in 2004 claiming that gaping loopholes in ASCOBANS agreements permit the continued unnecessary killing of small cetaceans by fishermen, and that stronger measures would reduce mammalian bycatch.Meanwhile, in 2005, the TAZ  presented the crucial role ASCOBANS plays in the protection of harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea – pointing out the successful introduction of a regulation that by 2007 all fishing vessels be equipped with pingers to warn porpoises and hence avert bycatch.In a more recent statement, the Gesellschaft zum Schutz der Meeressäugetiere, GSM, has called for increased attention to the work of ASCOBANS on the wider scale.