The harbour porpoise is the UK's most common cetacean and faces significant welfare threats from gill net bycatch and underwater noise pollution. Conservation and welfare efforts overlap substantially.
Harbour porpoise welfare in UK waters is shaped almost entirely by fishing and noise pressure - the natural environment of coastal UK waters, without these anthropogenic inputs, would support populations of porpoises in adequate body condition with abundant prey. Bycatch drowning is an acute, measurable welfare harm that occurs thousands of times per year in UK fisheries. Pinger deployment represents a practical, proven intervention that reduces these individual welfare events at relatively low cost. The welfare case for mandatory pinger deployment in all high-risk gill net fisheries is strong, and the evidence base to support it is well-established.