Marine Mammals

Harbour Porpoise Welfare and Bycatch

Harbour porpoises are small, shy cetaceans facing high bycatch mortality in gill nets and threats from noise pollution and prey depletion.

Key Facts

Harbour porpoises are the UK's most common small cetacean
They must eat around 10% of their body weight daily to survive
An estimated 3,000 are killed annually in UK waters as bycatch
Acoustic pingers on nets significantly reduce porpoise bycatch
Porpoises use high-frequency echolocation above 130kHz

Welfare Considerations

Gill net entanglement is the leading human-caused mortality factor. Porpoises drown within minutes to hours of entanglement. Noise from piling, seismic surveys, and shipping disrupts echolocation and foraging. Porpoises in noisy environments show chronic stress responses. Prey depletion from overfishing reduces food availability. Pinger technology is effective but not universally applied.

What You Can Do

Support mandatory pinger use on all UK gill nets
Buy fish from MSC-certified fisheries with low cetacean bycatch
Back campaigns for quieter marine construction methods
Report dead porpoises on beaches to the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme
Support Sea Watch Foundation monitoring of harbour porpoise populations