ECS-ASCOBANS Workshop: Saving the critically endangered Baltic harbour porpoise - looking for novel conservation and profile-raising approaches

© J.Abramowicz & Zb.Kegel / Hel Marine Station

The Baltic Proper harbour porpoise is Critically Endangered, and the only resident cetacean in the Baltic Sea. Although the critical conservation status of the population has been recognised for decades, not enough concrete conservation action has been taken to improve the situation.

Known obstacles to effective conservation actions will be presented and discussed, followed by an interactive workshop session that aims to come up with new, innovative measures in the areas of conservation action and policy change, scientific knowledge generation and sharing, and public information dissemination, including via the International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise (IDBHP, which is on 18 May in 2025). What new ideas and angles can we come up with to save the most endangered cetacean in Europe?

The workshop will focus on the Baltic Proper harbour porpoise but results will potentially be useful for other cetacean populations under threat from anthropogenic impacts. We welcome participants from all disciplines, including students. New perspectives are urgently needed.

To register for this workshop, please contact the Chair of the workshop, Dr. Ida Carlén.

The workshop is part of the 36th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society (ECS), taking place in Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal. The workshop is kindly sponsored by WWF Sweden.