Harbour Porpoise Symposium – Crossing boundaries

Harbour porpoises are protected animals. However, they face many threats, such as  bycatch and underwater noise. Moreover there is still a lot unknown about harbour porpoises. It is a challenge to protect a species of which information is scarce and that crosses boundaries. The Netherlands have a harbour porpoise conservation plan and are currently working on an implementation plan. But what is the approach of other countries and how can we learn from each other?

On the 18th of October we organized an international harbour porpoise symposium in Amsterdam. The aim of the symposium was to share up to date information on harbour porpoises, to discuss problems & policies and to come up with a list of recommendations to improve harbour porpoise conservation. The symposium focused on two specific problems: strandings and the impact of impulsive noise like pile driving. On both topics some interesting new research data was presented!

> Download here report Harbour porpoise symposium
> Check program of symposium here

Most important conclusions of the day

•    There is an urgent need for a more coherent international approach within policy and research
•    Learning by doing: act now on known threats (or probability), while gathering knowledge
•    There is need for a good surveillance and monitoring program in the EU and  for an evaluation of trends in harbour porpoises distribution and abundance
•    International cooperation and sharing of data and knowledge is necessary! Extrapolation rather than duplication of research efforts
•    Although bycatch is seen as one of the (or the) biggest threats to harbour porpoises,  there are other important threats as well, of which we still have limited knowledge
•    With respect to wind parks, participants were most worried about the impact of pile driving on harbour porpoises, as their response seems to be significant and consistent. Developers have an interest in clear regulations because of future costs. They therefore are willing to invest in new methods and mitigation measures
•    The precautionary principle should be applied.  As long as  it is not certain if specific activities will result in significant adverse effects, permits should not be approved
•    An international platform is necessary, but also budget for governments to attend meetings and for international cooperation
•    The presentation of Jan Haelters about grey seals attacking harbour porpoise caused a lot of media attention in the Netherland! Check here (in Dutch)
•    Overall, most participants were very enthusiastic about the symposium and there was a request to continue organizing these kind of meetings. We hope to be able to organize a follow up symposium next year, possibly in an even more international setting

Download presentations

POLICY
1. International harbour porpoise conservation, by Genevieve Desportes (North Sea Plan Coordinator ASCOBANS)
2. Towards a favourable conservation status, by Marije Siemensma (Marine Science & Communication)
3. Implementation of the Netherlands Harbour Porpoise Protection Plan (will be available soon), by Folchert van Dijken  (Ministry of EL&I )
STRANDINGS
4. Harbour Porpoises stranded on the Dutch coast, by Andrea Gröne (University of Utrecht)
5. Damaged harbour porpoises on Dutch shores, by Mardik Leopold & Dorien Verheyen (IMARES)
6. A predator of the harbour porpoise in the Southern North Sea? By Jan Haelters (Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models)
7. Harbour porpoise strandings research in the UK  (1990-2011), by Rob Deaville (UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme)
PILE DRIVING
8. Impacts of pile driving on harbour porpoises and options for noise mitigation, by Georg Nehls (BioConsult SH GmbH & Co)
9. Piling at C-Power 2011: results of PAM, by Jan Haelters  (Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models)
10. Harbour porpoise offshore wind farm studies in the Netherlands, by Steve Geelhoed (IMARES)