Dear readers,
I recently had a very special encounter with my family. We weren't even on the water, but strolling back from the marina in Strande towards Bülk lighthouse on a Sunday afternoon, when our twelve-year-old daughter suddenly waved wildly at the beach bistro, pointing at the water and shouting: "Dolphins! Look quickly, they're really jumping!"
They were not dolphins, but a small school of harbour porpoises. This was easy to recognise, as the animals were significantly smaller than bottlenose dolphins. Three whales, about 50 metres(!) from the coast, obviously chasing their evening snack, clearly having fun and not being disturbed by passing sailing and motor boats. A true spectacle of nature!
During my civilian service at the Wadden Sea Protection Centre in Hörnum on the island of Sylt, I spent a lot of time with these animals, took part in censuses and regularly saw harbour porpoises. I was even lucky enough to swim with the small whales on more than one occasion, as they sought to get close to me of their own accord. It was an incredible feeling. Whether whales or dolphins, as a passionate water sports enthusiast I am fascinated and euphoric every time the swimming mammals appear. And I hadn't seen a harbour porpoise in the Baltic Sea for years. Especially not so close to the coast.
The next day in the office, I launched a survey among my colleagues, most of whom own their own boats and travel a lot between Heiligenhafen, Kiel, the Schlei and Denmark. And, yes, they have all had encounters with harbour porpoises, sometimes even being accompanied by the animals as they continued their course under sail. One of my colleagues even said that he had heard that the populations of the highly endangered harbour porpoises had recovered well in recent years. However, my subsequent research did not confirm this wishful thinking.
The most precise figures on the distribution of harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea are currently provided by the German Foundation for Marine Conservation and the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW), which report on two populations that differ genetically and in their morphology. The population of Beltsee harbour porpoises, which occur west of Rügen as far as the Danish Kattegat, is considered to be largely stable at around 42,000 animals, although some institutions such as the Stralsund Oceanographic Museum assume that the population numbers have been declining for years. In contrast, the population in the central Baltic Sea, east of Rügen, is much smaller. Fewer than 500 harbour porpoises live there, meaning that they are classified as "threatened with extinction" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Harbour porpoises are small, highly mobile marine mammals that are difficult to track. This is why scientists count the animals from the air. In order to obtain more precise data, they rely on harbour porpoise sightings being reported. So we can all help to optimise the data situation. Here is the link to the sighting report.
Incidentally, my daughter was not so wrong with her first assumption that they were dolphins. A few days later, one of them caused quite a stir in the Bay of Lübeck and the River Trave. Even the "Bild" newspaper reported on it. The animal was travelling alone and thrilled onlookers on land with its high jumps. It was a bottlenose dolphin which, according to information from the ITAW, has been living around Svendborg in Denmark for several years and apparently swam after a shoal of herring in a hunting frenzy and landed in front of Lübeck city centre. Just one day later, the animal had moved on.
Have you ever seen harbour porpoises or dolphins in the Baltic Sea and perhaps even taken photos? Share your story with us: mail@yacht.de
With this in mind, have a great sailing summer wherever you are travelling.
Martin Hager,
Editor-in-Chief YACHT
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