UK In Hot Water over Harbour Porpoises

The European Commission (EC) is taking the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the EU for ”its failure to propose sites for the protection of the harbour porpoise.”

”The continued failure to propose and designate sufficient sites leaves the areas where the species occurs in greatest densities without the protection required. This refers in particular to the requirement to carry out adequate assessments of potentially damaging developments or activities, such as from offshore wind farm construction, oil and gas exploration and fishing,” the EC said in a statement.

EU legislation on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora requires EU Member States to propose a list of sites for a number of species and habitat types, ensuring their protection from threats which could seriously harm them and to maintain and restore them in a favourable status in the whole of the EU by taking the conservation measures needed.

Due to the unfavourable status of the harbour porpoises in the EU, 13 Member States, other than the UK, have designated sites for its protection in about 200 Natura 2000 sites.

The UK has so far formally proposed only one small site in Northern Ireland (the Skerries and Causeway Special Area of Conservation) and one site in Scotland (the Inner Hebrides and Minches Special Area of Conservation), the EC said in a statement.

As the UK has an extensive marine area, it has a particular responsibility for the protection of this species. The EC said it has ”repeatedly urged the British authorities to fulfil their key obligations for the conservation of the species, as other Member States have done already.”

While the UK has recently conducted a public consultation on a number of potential sites in English and Welsh waters and this month formally proposed one site in Scottish waters, more needs to be done, according to the EC.