|
First steps to protect harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea |
|
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 00:00 |
|
The drastic fall in the population of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Baltic Sea over the last decades, due mainly to their vulnerability as bycatch, has prompted the launch of a project that will deliver data on the abundance, distribution, and preferred habitats of the animal. SAMBAH; Static Acoustic Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Harbour Porpoise, will deploy 300 Statistic Acoustic Monitoring (SAM) devices over a period of two years in the project area. This is defined as waters 5-80 metres deep, south of approximately latitude 60 degrees north, and bound in the west by the Limhamn and Darss underwater ridges. The monitors, that track the sounds made by the porpoises, will provide the main bulk of the data, additional data will be collected from tags attached to the porpoises in Danish waters.
The results from the data will allow the formulation of management strategies and identify conservation measures including ultimately defining sites of community importance (SCI), which would then qualify for special protection. Institutions from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Denmark, Germany, the UK, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are participating in the project.
|
