Posted on 10 July 2019

Today WWF along with 20 environmental NGOs , led by Seas At Risk, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, ClientEarth and Coalition Clean Baltic, jointly called on the European Commission to adopt emergency measures to immediately prevent further deaths and take legal action against 15 EU governments for failing their duty to protect these cetaceans in European waters.
Bycatch is the biggest global threat for whales, dolphins and porpoises. In the Baltic Sea, the Baltic harbour porpoise is critically endangered, with only a few hundred left. A single incidental bycatch could have a devastating impact on the ability of the population to recover. To prevent the collapse of the population, emergency measures include a range of spatial closures of harmful fisheries in the Marine Protected Areas, and mitigation elsewhere in the Baltic Sea.