On 12 January in Sopot, Poland, under a wider WWF Poland project, “Conservation and protection of the Baltic Sea mammals in Poland”, the first stakeholder consultation was held to identify steps towards restoration and protection plans for the harbour porpoise and the grey seal in the Baltic Sea. At the moment there are no coherent plans for protection of either species in the Polish waters.
The consultation, organised by Mediatorzy.pl, was attended by 76 participants, representing Polish local governments, the scientific community, fishermen, and environmental organizations. The core purpose of the first consultation process was to present project guidelines and procedures, and gather opinions on the matter. Working groups have also been identified during the meeting, which in the course of the project will work on the commonly planned strategy for harbour porpoise and grey seal protection.
It is hoped that the start of this project will not only positively affect the populations of the harbour porpoise and grey seal in the Baltic Sea, but also provide clear guidelines on how to minimize negative human impact on the two species.
The project is in line with the Polish environmental policy commitments, which by the end of 2012 necessitated the development of national protection programs for endangered species within the marine Natura2000 areas in Poland. The project aims to collaborate with all concerned stakeholders to configure the best possible strategy for restoration and protection efforts.
Why are these efforts important for the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise?
The shy and rarely seen harbour porpoise was once a common sight throughout the Baltic Sea; however, it is now restricted to the southern parts of the Baltic. Despite methodological constraints in assessing the harbour porpoise abundance levels in the Baltic Sea, overall indicators point to a heavily decimated population, which is estimated at between 10 to 3300 individuals.
Despite a general consensus among the Baltic States on the critical situation of the Baltic harbour porpoise, and ongoing discussions for a recovery plan among ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas) member states, the situation is still severe. The Baltic Sea harbour porpoise subpopulation is, as of 2008, listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Why have the abundance levels of the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise declined?
Several reason for the decline have been proposed, such as historically harsh winters with extensive ice cover, accumulation of PCBs and other ecotoxins, marine noise interfering with porpoise navigation, and incidental by-catch in fishing gear. Following the EU legislation of a drift-net ban in 2008, reports of harbour porpoises being caught in fishing gears have decreased, but by-catch in set gill nets (mostly cod and salmon nets) still continue to pose a considerable threat to the survival of the harbour porpoise in the Baltic Sea.
The extremely low abundance of porpoises has moreover led to circular reasoning: low by-catch is perceived as sign of low disturbance by the fishery, while the scientific community stresses that the by-catch, however low, is a direct result of detrimental fishing methods.
This, in conjunction with a lack of reliable population estimates and a lack of knowledge regarding migration patterns and habitat preferences (“hot spots”) have contributed to clashing views regarding mitigation strategies among the fishermen, and environmental as well as scientific organizations. There is general unwillingness among the fishermen to report by-catch, which further inhibits monitoring efforts.
Other Baltic Sea harbour porpoise projects:
The SAMBAH (Static Acoustic Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Harbour Porpoise) project, which was initiated in January 2010 aims to provide a solid scientific backing for policy makers and stakeholders, by mapping the distribution, abundance and behaviour of harbor porpoises in the Baltic Sea. For this purpose, SAMBAH utilises 300 “click detectors” (acoustic monitoring devices, which register the sounds made by harbour porpoises, using sonar technology) sunk on the bottom of the Baltic Sea—spanning from the Öresund region in the south to the Åland archipelago in the north—with hopes of identifying especially important habitats and achieving more precise abundance level estimates.
While data collection is ongoing and results are expected to become available at the end of 2013, some countries already have recovery plans in action (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) with aims of fulfilling the demands set out by the ASCOBANS Jastarnia Action Plan (mainly through reduction of by-catch, removal of “ghost-nets”, rising of public awareness and development of alternative fishing methods).
What’s next?
In order to achieve an effective recovery of the harbor porpoise, it is important that countries which have a “high” occurrence of harbour porpoises in their waters implement appropriate legislative measures and mitigation strategies. Poland is one of those countries, which until late 2011 has not had a national recovery plan for harbor porpoises despite relatively intense fishing activities in areas which harbour porpoises are known to frequent.
The WWF Poland led project— facilitated by Mediatorzy.pl— on the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise, provides great hope for a successful future recovery of this species.
For more information see the links below.