Cetaceans

Twenty-eight species of whales, dolphins and porpoises are known to occur in north-west European waters with varying degrees of frequency and regularity.  The Seabirds at Sea Team of JNCC has been conducting at-sea surveys here since 1979 and although these focus on seabirds, data are also collected on cetaceans opportunistically.  The JNCC database hosts one of the largest and longest data-sets of cetacean dispersion in existence.  As the data are effort-related, the relative abundances of these animals may be estimated.  Collaboration with the Sea Watch Foundation and the Sea Mammal Research Unit has seen the establishment of the Joint Cetacean Database, an amalgamation of the three large data-sets pertaining to cetacean dispersion in UK and surrounding seas.

 

Cetaceans may come under pressure from a variety of anthropogenic sources such as noise, fishing gear and disturbance.  Various legislative instruments oblige the UK and JNCC to support research in support of the conservation of their populations.  The bottlenose dolphin and the harbour porpoise are listed on Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, and as such their conservation requires the designation of Special Areas of Conservation.  In addition, The Bonn Convention, and specifically the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS), obliges signatories, including the UK, to apply a range of research and management measures aimed at the conservation of all cetaceans.  An objective under ASCOBANS commits signatories to reducing the incidental catch of harbour porpoises in commercial fisheries to 1.7% of the species abundance, a target specified in an EU Regulation.

 

In support of conservation objectives aimed at cetaceans JNCC contributes to various current initiatives including:

 

An annual report is produced that outlines the results of surveys undertaken from seismic exploration vessels.  Recent regional accounts of cetacean distribution have appeared in

 

Based on data in the Joint Cetacean Database, dispersion patterns of cetaceans that occur in the north-east Atlantic region have been mapped in:

 

 

Amendments to the Habitats Regulations for England and Wales and the new Offshore Marine Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 2007 came into force on the 21^st August 2007. Both Regulations revised the definition of deliberate disturbance of European Protected Species (cetaceans, turtles and the Atlantic sturgeon). In the document “The deliberate disturbance of marine European Protected Species - Interim guidance for English and Welsh territorial waters and the UK offshore marine area”, the JNCC provides initial guidance in interpreting the law from the point of view of nature conservation, so that developers in the marine environment can assess the likelihood of committing an offence and how offences can be avoided, and if a wildlife licence is required.