The Fisheries Secretariat and Race for the Baltic visited Kolmården in collaboration with SAMBAH project and Marine World. The two day visit involved collecting over 1,000 signatures and learning about what Kolmården is working with in connection to the Baltic Sea.
The Baltic harbour porpoise is critically endangered, but the classification is based on insufficient data. Knowing how many – or few – porpoises there are, is vital for sustainable management of the species. During our visit on the 23-24th of June 2013, Race for the Baltic was joined by researcher, Mats Amundin who explained their involvement in SAMBAH (Static Acoustic Monitoring of the Baltic Harbour porpoise). SAMBAH is an international project involving all EU countries around the Baltic Sea, with the ultimate goal to secure the conservation of the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise. SAMBAH aims to increase the knowledge about the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise, estimating densities and total abundance. The SAMBAH project has kept 300 passive acoustic porpoise click loggers, so called CPODs, in operation now for almost 2 years. These CPODs log the echolocation clicks that the porpoises produce to navigate and find fish to eat.
Also, while in Kolmården, visitors to the park were encouraged to “cycle for the Baltic Sea” on stationary bikes, take a quiz on their Baltic Sea knowledge and also to Paint-a-Fish to show their support for the health of the oceans.
For more information about the SAMBAH project at Kolmården – click here.