15 May 2005 – International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise

The third Sunday in May – this year May 15 – again marks the International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise, which is being celebrated for the third time this year under the aegis of the United Nations Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (UNEP/ASCOBANS). This day was established to draw attention to the problems faced by the Harbour porpoise population in the Baltic Sea.

But what exactly is it about? The Harbour porpoise is the only cetacean native to the Baltic Sea, which makes this an important habitat. Until the middle of the 20th Century the range of the Harbour porpoise stretched as far north and north-east as the Åland Islands, the Gulf of Finland and the Bay of Riga. Since then the Harbour porpoise has been subject to many threats, so that the population in the Baltic has already been severely reduced. Today it is estimated that only 600 animals remain in the entire Baltic Sea. Not all the reasons for this reduction are known, but it is supposed that so-called bycatch, i.e. the inadvertent catching of animals in fishing nets, plays an important role in the drop in numbers, and is also preventing the species’ recovery. It is, however, very difficult to estimate the bycatch rate in the Baltic because the numbers of animals are so low. In order to save the Baltic Harbour porpoise population it is essential that bycatch in this area be reduced drastically.

UNEP/ASCOBANS is the only international institution devoted exclusively to the conservation of small cetaceans in the Baltic and North Seas. It has elaborated a recovery plan for the Baltic Harbour porpoise (known as the Jastarnia Plan), which was discussed at the fourth Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS in 2003. To ensure the success of this plan, public awareness of the dangers to which the Harbour porpoise is exposed, and public support for its conservation are essential. It was with this aim in mind that the UNEP/ASCOBANS Secretariat established the International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise, which is being marked this year by special exhibitions and other events at the following locations: Gesellschaft zum Schutz der Meeressäugetiere (GSM) in Quickborn, and the Maritime Museum Stralsund, Germany; Havets Hus, Lysekil, Sweden; Latvian Museum of Natural History in Riga, Latvia; the Lithuanian Sea Museum in Klaipéda, Lithuania; Museum Koenig, Bonn, as well as in the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, Sweden in collaboration with the Swedish NGO “Protect Whales & Dolphins”.

On May 12 at 7 p.m., the marine biologist and journalist Petra Deimer from GSM will be giving a public lecture at Museum Koenig in Bonn entitled “Harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea: small whale in big trouble”.

From then until June 26 Museum Koenig will also be presenting a special exhibition on “Small whales: artists under water”. Here, works by two British artists, Martin Camm and Phil Coles, demonstrate the beauty and elegance of our native dolphins and porpoises.

UNEP/ASCOBANS was established in 1991 under the auspices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS or Bonn Convention). The aim of the Agreement is the coordination and implementation of measures to conserve dolphins, porpoises and other toothed whales in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The Agreement currently has eight Parties (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The accession of further countries is expected this year.

ASCOBANS