A Plan for the Conservation of the Harbor Porpoise

By Krzysztof Skora & Iwona Kuklik

 Translation provided by Aleksandra Cegielska-Johnso

It is known for its mysterious lifestyle. It has been seen by only few. It is an endangered species. The harbor porpoise also incorrectly (by scholarly fashion) called “the dolphin of the Baltic”.Dorsal fin of harbour porpoise. This body part is most often seen on the water surface.

In 1991, the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) was ratified by its first co-signatories. Poland became a member of this alliance in 1995. Since then, the University of Gdansk Marine Station located in Hel has been conducting research on the biology and ecology of animals inhabiting the Polish zone of the Baltic Sea. A considerable amount of research data has been collected leading to the issuance of several research papers and popular articles. An educational campaign targeting the conservation of these animals was also developed. All of these factors have greatly contributed to better understanding the condition of these mammals in Polish waters.

Despite the legal protection for this species, not only limited to Poland, each successive international conference or gathering of experts consistently reaches the same conclusion that the population of the harbor porpoise continues to perish in the Baltic Sea. The other unanimously agreed upon conclusion is that the rate of its extinction is so fast that the survival of this species is not ensured. The past two years appear to have brought significant attempts to reverse these dangerous tendencies. Several new research projects were started and the experts have drafted future meetings and educational efforts.

An interesting meeting took place in December of 2001 in Brussels. The distinguished panel of experts was debating the issue of the unintended catch of small cetaceans due to their accidental entangling in fishing nets in waters controlled by European Union. The goal of this debate was to establish the manner for significantly limiting the accidental catch. This group of experts comprised of representatives from the European Union member’s countries including a partaker from Poland. The major debates during the meeting concentrated on the present condition of the harbor porpoise in the Baltic Sea and the effect of modern fishing techniques on its population.

An increasing number of institutions are willing to work in support of the preservation of the harbor porpoise population. It is not an easy task to achieve, but every supporting effort will make it more attainable providing that the entire resolution is not delayed. The Environment Preservation Bank in Poland undertook the strain to raise funds to support the program for the research and rescue of these animals. On December 3, 2001 in the old-town city hall in Gdansk, Bank officials contributed the sum of nearly 18 thousands zloty to the Marine Station in Hel.

Bank Ochrony Srodowiska (Environment Protection Bank) 

handing cheque for porpoise protection.

An international workshop tending towards the development of a plan for the preservation of the harbor porpoise population in the Baltic took place from January 9-11 of 2002 in Jastarnia. The workshop was set up through the combined efforts of the Marine Station in Hel and the Foundation for the Development of the University of Gdansk under the auspices of ASCOBANS and with financial support of the Danish Cooperation for Environment in Eastern Europe (DANCEE). The workshop was to some extent unusual since the partakers from all Baltic countries representing numerous marine and environmental protection administrations, fishing and scientific communities, as well as public organizations were actively participating. The means of limiting the death of these animals were under discussion. The extent of the endangerment for the Baltic population of the harbor porpoise, the complexity of research regarding their biology, ecology, migration, and methods of quantity assessment were all of prime concern of the opening lectures.

Lecture on harbour porpoise biology by dr Christina Lockyer

All of the participants were seriously alarmed by the imminent lack of time remaining to undertake actions to effectively protect the harbor porpoise. The present death rate of the harbor porpoise is 3 times higher than its reproduction ability. If this undesirable ratio will prevail for approximately 30 years, then the Baltic population of the harbor porpoise will perish.  

In September of 2001, the crew of the yacht “Song of the Whale” was observing and monitoring the population of harbor porpoise in the Polish zone of the Baltic Sea. As a result, they were able to spot only two specimens of harbor porpoise; the first one in the proximity of the Wolin National Park, and the second one several miles to the north. The observed number is viewed as extremely low. Many more specimens of harbor porpoise were spotted in the vicinity of the island of Rugen, particularly to the west of the island. Any information regarding the manifestation of the harbor porpoise in the Polish zone of the Baltic beyond September is not available.

All of our interlocutors indicated that the harbor porpoise is continually imperiled by modern fishing nets and that the present designs of the nets do not ensure the survival of these marine mammals. The very delicate materials used to construct the nets prevent them from being registered by the harbor porpoise’s hydro-location system. The reverberated signal is too weak to be sensed by animals. The ways to avoid this problem remain to be determined.

The United States and Canada are successfully using acoustic scaring devices called “pingers”.

In areas with the highest occurrence of accidentally catching the harbor porpoise, these devices were installed on the fishing nets. This simple undertaking largely reduced the number of harbor porpoise perishing in these areas. The same system is currently being tested along the coast lines of Denmark and Sweden. Whether this system will be adopted in the future along the entire coast of the Baltic Sea still remains unknown. Many western European countries do, however, attach great importance to this deterrent.

Representatives of the fishing communities participating in the Jastarnia meeting supported without any reservations the call for the preservation of the harbor porpoise. However, concern over who will be burdened with the related costs greatly troubled them.  Their anxiety arose from the fear that the fishing communities will bear all the costs related to the modernization of the fishing equipment. Several options of financing similar ventures were debated during the meeting, and several different solutions to the problem were considered. Many countries already co-finance various pro-ecological investments; therefore, the co-financing of nature friendly fishing tools seems only logical. Farmers do receive compensation for game caused damage; should not fishermen be treated alike in regard to the financial damage they are facing?

Financial resources based outside the government are also available to support projects aiming at the preservation of various scopes of nature. A number of tasks to protect nature and to restore its native state are currently being undertaken. Several endangered species like wolf, lynx, eagle, bison, and bear are presently under protection. In order to save the perishing species of fish like salmon and bull-trout, their natural habitats are being re-created and stocked. The new areas are planted with trees to assure future forests. The most precious fragments of existing afforested regions are preserved and their most magnificent specimens are included within the definition of the protective law. In the view of all these undertakings, it only seems fair to introduce the same degree of preservation and financial protection in relation to the nature of the sea. In fact, in order to do just that we should first observe the same measures towards the sea-nature, as we already observe towards the land-nature.

The other measure one can use to ensure that the harbor porpoise can recognize the presence of the nets set in the water is to change the very construction of the net. The means to achieve this are quite simple. The materials used to produce floats and ropes for fishing nets should better deflect the sound sent under water by the harbor porpoise as well as generate more noise as compared with the materials presently used.

Scientists researching this problem recommend improving fishing nets by using plaited cords which are able to deflect sounds and/or using floats which are filled with air. These upgraded nets work like the original ones, but now they can be recognized by small cetaceans such as harbor porpoises and dolphins from a safe distance.

The other way to ensure the survival of small cetaceans is to initiate changes in fishing techniques. It is self-evident that employment of certain specific types of fishing nets or fishing techniques is significantly safer for animals as compared with others. There are numerous examples from around the world that the fishing industry was successfully forced by demands of the market to modify and/or improve their fishing techniques in order to protect dolphins. Fish relishing consumers demanded a guarantee that their consumption, of for instance tuna, is not attended by the death of dolphins as a consequence. Fish products associated with environmentally friendly fishing techniques were marked with specific certificates of origin or other labels. This way the sensible fish consumers were able to affect the saving of thousands of dolphins. If this approach will find its advocates across Europe remains to be seen. In order to help the fishing community operating on the Baltic Sea to promptly modify their fishing strategy and modernize fishing equipment, we ought to closely observe the state of affairs on the North Sea. In a matter of a few years, the European Union will have control over the major part of the Baltic Sea.

Therefore, the unification of laws and regulations defining the utilization of Baltic resources is inevitable. The urgent call for preservation of the Baltic population of harbor porpoise necessitates the rigorous control over environmental pollution. Pollution control is, however, expensive. Obsolete production technologies ought to be replaced with modern and environmentally friendly technologies. The toxic substances presently polluting the Baltic waters are without a doubt affecting the well being of the harbor porpoise population. It has been already shown that seals are negatively affected by the pollutants. Similar susceptibility including the pathological modifications of the female reproductive organs of the harbor porpoise can not by be excluded. Due to these pathological modifications, chances for pregnancy of these mammals are slim. These types of modifications also preclude prompt delivery and do not ensure healthy breed. How the current levels of DTT, PCB or heavy metals presently found in the Baltic can be reduced and whether it can be done promptly enough remains to be seen. It is obvious that the program regarding the construction of new water treatment plants is not sufficient.

The question debated during the meeting in Jastarnia was whether any particular region of the Baltic Sea should be designed for a refuge for the harbor porpoise. Some observations point to the German zone of the Baltic located to the west of the island of Rugen as a candidate for such a refuge. However, considering the present state of the harbor porpoise population it seems reasonable that the entire Baltic Sea should be recognized as a refuge.

During the meeting in Jastarnia, one of the workshop groups entirely devoted its time to debating future educational efforts supporting the program of protecting animals.  They elaborated on numerous ideas for informing and guiding campaigns addressed to the residents of the Baltic countries. They also pointed at fishing, sailing and tourism communities as well as administrative communities responsible for the coastal natural resources as professional groups which in their view should be the primary recipients of the developing information about biology, ecology and condition of Baltic harbor porpoise.

The harbor porpoise is very scattered and it exhibits an incredibly secret lifestyle; therefore, these days it is rarely visible to the human eye. Since it only briefly and unforeseeably emerges from the water to catch its breath, it practically remains unperceivable. Evidently, convincing people about the immediate need for protection of something they can not see is not easy. In Denmark a special establishment was created where living harbor porpoise are kept and exhibited to the people. Other countries produce documentaries or organize excursions, all in order to introduce the harbor porpoise to the general public. Although similar undertakings are hard to execute in the Polish zone of the Baltic, none the less it will be difficult to escape the responsibility for lack of educational efforts presenting harbor porpoise and its fate to the public.

In 1995, the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) was ratified by Poland. Since then Poland is under international obligation to provide educational efforts in support of the conservation of the harbor porpoise. In order to mobilize public efforts to protect harbor porpoise, participants of the meeting in Jastarnia stipulated for creation of a “Harbor porpoise Day” to be observed annually on the third Saturday of May in all countries where the harbor porpoise is recognized as an endangered species.

Legal instruments protecting the harbor porpoise are already in place. The recognition of the harbor porpoise’s present condition is established. Only the manners of how to assure the survival of the harbor porpoise have yet to be determined. Normally, it is the scientific community which is expected to offer solutions, preferably simple and evading all conflicts. However, contrary to all expectations the solutions lies in the hands of the people exploiting the sea and those who manage its natural resources.  The need for debate on all of these issues stimulated and encouraged organizers to set up the meeting in Jastarnia. It provided an unfamiliar platform in Poland for the collective evaluation of the condition of the surrounding nature. However, to be persuaded by the authority of the tribune does not assure that the general public will accept all of the presented facts. It is also difficult to convince the public to apply, not easy, but potent and effective protective efforts as opposed to easier but ostensible ones.

There is no one within the fishing community who would not be deeply saddened by seeing a harbor porpoise accidentally caught in the fishing nets. Each such misfortune is accompanied by a sense of sorrow and helplessness. After all, the harbor porpoise as a fish-hunter is perceived as a fellow in the same trade. All fishermen wish for these likable animals is to accompany them and their boats on the sea. The Jastarnia Plan offers the first step in the right direction.

Fisherman with a porpoise

Krzysztof Skóra & Iwona Kuklik

Hel Marine Station, Poland

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