Conference Details, Page 1

Approximately 36% of all sighting records in the IWDG sightings database are of harbour porpoise (c.3000 sightings of over 14,000 animals!).

The harbour porpoise is recognised within Europe as being a species of major conservation concern and hence is included on Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, which requires member states to designate sites for its protection. Despite this, little is known about their ecology and due to their small size and elusive nature its’ conservation importance is often overlooked.

How many of you have considered the harbour porpoise to be a somewhat plain, boring predictable coastal species. Well, satellite telemetry conducted in inner Danish Waters has shown that harbour porpoises tagged there have a seasonal migration to both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. One individual ventured as far as the Shetland Islands! We welcome Signe Sveegaard from Denmark, who will share more of this research with us during the conference and explain what this information means for harbour porpoise conservation.

Andy Read, who is the world’s leading authority on harbour porpoise, will join us from America where he has been conducting research on a variety of topics as the Rachel Carson Associate Professor of Marine Conservation Biology at the Duke University Marine Laboratory, in Beaufort, North Carolina. He will be talking about the ecology and protection of harbour porpoises based on years of research in the Bay of Fundy in Canada.