Tissue banks are central repositories of cetacean tissues, designed to provide researchers and managers with comprehensive collections of tissue samples, in large part deriving from stranded or by-caught cetacean specimens. Tissue banks may be used as a cost-effective diagnostic tool for toxicological, pathological and genetic studies.

A Workshop to launch the ACCOBAMS Tissue bank system was organised in Tajura, Libya, in May - June 2004. As an outcome of the workshop, a Tissue bank working group was established to support the work of the Scientific Committee.

The working group is coordinated by Alex Aguilar (University of Barcelona), and includes Bruno Cozzi (University of Padua), Anastasia Komnenou (University of Thessaloniki), and Carmen Mifsud (Malta Environment and Planning Authority). The working group drafted a set of guidelines on the establishment of Tissue banks, which will be submitted to the Second Meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS, Palma de Majorca (November 2004).