Harbour Porpoise Bycatch and Gillnet Welfare

Harbour porpoises are the most common cetacean in European waters but suffer high bycatch mortality in gillnets, with tens of thousands drowning annually in fisheries that are not targeting them.

Key Facts

An estimated 100,000 harbour porpoises die annually as gillnet bycatch in European waters
The Baltic Sea porpoise population numbers fewer than 500 individuals and is critically endangered
Acoustic pingers attached to nets reduce porpoise bycatch by up to 90% in tested fisheries
EU regulations require pingers on certain gillnet fisheries but enforcement is inconsistent
Porpoises are air-breathing mammals that drown within minutes of entanglement
Bycatch mortality is largely invisible to consumers because it occurs below the water surface

Welfare Considerations

Harbour porpoise bycatch drowning is one of the largest sources of cetacean welfare harm in European waters by individual animal count. Entanglement in gillnets causes rapid panic, struggling, and drowning within minutes — acute and severe suffering. The scale is staggering: 100,000 animals per year across European fisheries. Acoustic pingers are a simple, inexpensive technology that substantially reduces entanglement by alerting porpoises to net presence. Mandatory pinger use on all gillnet fisheries in porpoise habitat would dramatically reduce this welfare harm. Consumer pressure on seafood buyers to source from pinger-equipped fisheries provides market incentive for adoption.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified under standards that require bycatch mitigation including porpoise pingers
Advocate for mandatory acoustic pinger use on all EU gillnet fisheries
Support WWF and ORCA bycatch reduction campaigns in European waters
Raise awareness about harbour porpoise bycatch as a major preventable welfare harm
Donate to acoustic pinger research and deployment programmes for small cetacean protection