Dear MARMAM community,

On behalf of all co-authors, I am pleased to share with you our new paper on 
Iberian porpoises in Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review:


Pierce, G.J., Petitguyot, M.A.C., Gutierrez-Muñoz, P., Fariñas-Bermejo, A., 
Fernández-Fernández, D., Dolman, S., Fontaine, M.C., Hernández-González, A., 
Gil, A., Read, F.L., Martínez-Cedeira, J., Covelo, P., Díaz López, B., 
Ivaylova, S., Llavona, A., López, A., López, M., Marçalo, A., Methion, S., 
Méndez-Fernandez, P., Murphy, S., Pérez Fernández, B., Puig Lozano, R., Pinn, 
E.H., Saavedra, C., Verutes, G.M., Viñas, L., Weir, C.R. 2024. An Endangered 
Population of Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena Hidden in Plain Sight: 
Biology, Ecology and Conservation of the Iberian Porpoise. Oceanography and 
Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 62: 1-119.

The paper is open access and available online at:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/download/756fd19d-e7e8-4dd2-80c6-6abdbca561d4/chapter/pdf?context=ubx

Abstract:

The Iberian harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) reaches a larger body size 
than most other harbour porpoise populations and is genetically distinct, 
albeit closely related to the population in Northwest Africa. Currently 
comprising an estimated 3000–4000 individuals, genetic evidence and strandings 
data suggest that the population has declined in recent times, and it is 
considered to be at risk of extinction. It is distributed all around the 
Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, with the highest densities off Galicia 
in Northwest Spain and Northern and Central Portugal, a highly productive 
upwelling area characterised by cold‐water upwelling. There are occasional 
reports from the Mediterranean and Macaronesia and some evidence of emigration 
into the Celtic Sea. It feeds mostly on fish, with pelagic fish being more 
important than in the diet of porpoises from northern Europe, perhaps due to 
excursions beyond the narrow continental shelf. The population faces a number 
of anthropogenic threats. Historically, porpoises were used for human 
consumption while current threats include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 
with some individuals having concentrations in their blubber above the 
threshold for impairment of reproduction, and nematode infections, probably 
also prey depletion, underwater noise and fatal attacks by bottlenose dolphins. 
The most serious current threat is fishery bycatch mortality. Stranding data 
suggest that the bycatch mortality increased in the last decade. Although based 
on information from a small number of documented mortalities (reflecting 
limited observer coverage especially for small‐scale fishing as well as a low 
number of reported strandings), annual bycatch mortality estimates are in the 
order of a few hundred animals, which is clearly unsustainable. There is, 
however, an apparent incompatibility between the high bycatch estimates and the 
rather similar abundance estimates obtained from large‐scale abundance surveys 
in 2005, 2016 and 2022. Consistent with population status assessments by Spain 
and Portugal, OMMEG (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of 
the North‐East Atlantic) concluded that bycatch mortality in Iberian porpoise 
“is critically exceeding the agreed threshold” of zero. There are several 
national initiatives in Spain and Portugal including the development of species 
conservation plans. Continuous reduction of bycatch mortality, preferably until 
such mortality is eliminated, is a priority to ensure that this population does 
not disappear in the near future.


Best wishes,

--
Marie Petitguyot
Institute of Marine Research - Spanish National Research Council
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas - IIM-CSIC
C/ Eduardo Cabello, 6
CP 36208 Vigo (Pontevedra)
Spain

 
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