Dear all,

We would like to inform you on that project SAMBAH (Static acoustic monitoring of the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise) has been launched.  For anyone interested, there will be a workshop about the project in Stralsund, Germany on March 20 in conjunction with the 24^th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society (http://www.europeancetaceansociety.eu/, SAMBAH workshop contact: julia.carlstrom@aquabiota.se).

The overall objective of the SAMBAH project is to launch static acoustic monitoring (SAM) as a best practice methodology on a large scale, and to provide reliable assessments of abundance, distribution and preferred habitats of the small and severely reduced population of harbour porpoises (Phocoena Phocoena) in the Baltic Sea.  The Baltic Sea population is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) and the species is listed in Annexes 2 and 4 of the EC Habitats Directive as well as in the national red lists of several EU Member States. The very low density of the population, in combination with a complex of threats and problems, necessitates the development of improved methodologies for collecting data on population size and range, and its fluctuation over time.

The project area is defined by waters 5-80 m deep east of the Limhamn and Darss underwater ridges (between Denmark-Sweden and Denmark-Germany, respectively) and south of approximately latitude 60⁰20’N in the Baltic Sea. Within the project area, close to 300 SAM devices will be deployed in a random systematic grid over a period of 2 years. Density estimates will be calculated using adaptations of traditional point transect distance sampling methods, applied to the detection of porpoise groups by the SAM units. Auxiliary data will be collected by the deployment of satellite and acoustic tags, attached to porpoises in Danish waters. Habitat preferences and areas with higher risk of conflicts with anthropogenic activities will be investigated by spatial modelling.

SAMBAH will allow formulating appropriate management objectives and identify conservation and mitigation measures. The results should make possible an appropriate designation of SCIs for the species within the Natura 2000 network. SAMBAH also provides a tool for monitoring the population and evaluating the success of future conservation measures.

The beneficiaries (partners) of the project are:

Kolmården Wildlife Park, SE (coordinator)

Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, SE

Turku University of Applied Sciences, FI

Finnish Ministry of the Environment, FI

Särkänniemi Adventure Park, FI

University of Gdańsk, PL

Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, PL

Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, PL

National Environmental Research Institute, DK

Danish Forest and Nature Agency, DK

Collaborators:

German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund, DE

AquaBiota Water Research, SE

CREEM, St Andrews University, UK

Ivar Jüssi, State Nature conservation Centre, EE

Anda Ikauniece, Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology, LV

Darius Daunys, Klaipeda University Coastal Research and Planning Institute, LT

The project is funded by the EU programme LIFE+ Nature, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water, WWF Finland, the Voivodship Fund for Environment Protection and Water, as well as by all beneficiaries.

Julia Carlström

PhD Marine Ecology / SAMBAH Project Manager

AquaBiota Water Research

Svante Arrhenius väg 21A, SE-114 18 Stockholm, Sweden

Phone +46 (0)8 16 10 27, mobile +46 (0)70 22 44 517

www.aquabiota.se / www.sambah.org

julia.carlstrom@aquabiota.se / info@sambah.org