Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Cetaceans
What kinds of cetaceans can be found in waters around Scotland?
How are cetaceans protected?
How many cetaceans are stranded on Scottish shores each year?
What is 'bycatch'?
What is being done to tackle the issue of incidential bycatch in fishing nets?
What kind of cetaceans can be found in waters around Scotland?
There is a wide variety of cetaceans in the waters around Scotland. The harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena is the most widely distributed, with concentrations around the Northern Isles and in the central North Sea. The bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus is locally frequent in inshore waters off North-east Scotland and the Western Isles. A wide variety of other cetaceans including the common dolphin, Risso's dolphin and the killer whale can be found off the North and West coasts of Scotland .
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How are cetaceans protected?
All cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the EC Habitats Directive as European Protected Species. A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) has been established in the Moray Firth to protect the local population of bottlenose dolphins.
The UK is also a signatory to the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) which seeks to reduce the incidental bycatch of small cetaceans in fishing gear.
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How many cetaceans are stranded on Scottish coastlines each year?
In 2006, a total of 194 cetaceans, comprising 16 different species, were reported as stranded or taken as bycatch from Scotland's waters. Post mortem examinations identified pneumonia (caused by a combination of parasitic and bacterial infections), meningitis, entanglement and incidental bycatch as causes of death. Fatal attacks by bottle-nosed dolphins were also implicated in the high stranding figures for harbour porpoises.
All cetacean strandings (including those accidentally caught at sea) are reported to the Natural History Museum, which is responsible for gathering and collating all information on UK cetacean strandings. This information (species, sex, length, place and date of stranding) is entered into the National Cetacean Stranding Database, and is used to contribute to the understanding of the biology and ecology of cetacean species. Wherever possible, post mortem examinations are conducted on the stranded cetaceans by the responsible authority, which in Scotland is the Scottish Agricultural College.
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What is 'bycatch'?
Bycatch, the accidental mortality of non-target species, is widely recognised as one of the most serious environmental impacts of modern commercial fishing. Every year several thousand small cetaceans are captured or entangled in fishing gear, posing a major conservation threat to many cetacean populations. Due to their coastal and inshore distribution, harbour porpoise populations are especially vulnerable to bycatch in bottom set net fisheries.
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What is being done to tackle the issue of incidental bycatch in fishing nets?
The Scottish Government supported the UK Government in gaining approval, at the third Meeting of the Parties to ASCOBANS in June 2000, to a resolution which identifies that cetacean bycatch above 1.7% of the population abundance constitutes an unacceptable interaction, as any takes above this level would inevitably lead to population decline.
The Scottish Government has worked closely with Defra, other Devolved Administrations and nature conservation agencies in drafting the UK Small Cetacean Bycatch Response Strategy, which identifies measures that can be taken to work towards reducing small cetacean bycatch to below the target set by ASCOBANS in 2000. The Strategy was published for consultation in March 2003. Over the last three years, Defra, in partnership with the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations, have worked to take forward the recommendations of the strategy. There has been considerable activity to improve our knowledge of small cetaceans and reduce the numbers captured incidentally in fisheries. To reflect the progress made so far in implementing the measures proposed in the strategy an action plan was published on 12 December 2006.
One of the recommendations of the strategy is to develop an overarching bycatch monitoring system to investigate levels of bycatch in UK fisheries. In response to this recommendation and requirements under new EC Regulations on cetacean bycatch (see link below), Defra and the Scottish Government are now funding a two year project to determine the levels of bycatch per haul in each fishery and thus help identify specific fisheries causing the largest amount of bycatch in each region. The project is being undertaken by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) and will report in 2010.
In addition, new EC Regulations agreed by Member States in April 2004 seek to reduce the level of cetacean bycatch in European waters. More information on these Regulations can be found at the following page.
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