Germany's porpoises are critically endangered and hundreds are washing up dead. Scientists point the finger mainly at fishing operations.
Image: picture-alliance/H. van Diek
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Some 203 dead porpoises washed up on the shores of Germany's Baltic coast in 2018, the Environment Ministry said on Thursday.
It was the second-highest number since recordkeeping started in 2000. In 2016, 221 dead porpoises were found.
"Porpoises in the German Baltic continue to be threatened by extinction," said Steffi Lemke, the Greens Party member who requested the figures from the ministry. "The alarming rise in dead porpoise finds make it clear that we need effective conservation areas."
She called for stricter rules on fishing and industrial use in conservation areas.
The breakdown of figures showed a record-high 69 dead porpoises were found in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and 134 in Schleswig-Holstein.
Weather affects count
Michael Dähne from the German Oceanographic Museum in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania told DW the two record-high years of porpoise deaths in his state was troubling.
Dähne said most porpoise deaths can be attributed to passive fishing practices but other factors involved were pollution, climate change and noise effects.
The state enjoyed particularly warm weather in 2018, which influenced the research. It meant more people were on the beaches, potentially increasing the number of porpoises found. But it also meant the animals were generally found in an advanced state of decomposition, hindering investigations into the cause of death.
Only native whale
The harbor porpoise is the only whale native to German waters. They grow up to 1.9 meters (6.2 feet), are related to dolphins and generally stay close to shore. They are found in the North Atlantic, the North Pacific and the Black Sea.
In the Baltic there are two populations of harbor porpoises. There are between 10,000 and 40,000 in the Belt Sea subpopulation, around the Danish Islands. It is unknown if this is increasing or decreasing.
The other group is known as the Proper Baltic subpopulation, and these are critically endangered, Dähne said. The group is estimated at fewer than 500 individuals, putting the morphologically-unique population at risk of extinction.
"With no mitigation measures in place for bycatch it will most probably be lost," Dähne said.
Fishing industry
The Environment Ministry said it was working to protect the animals. However, there are calls for more effective action, such as fishing bans in porpoise-rich areas, greater monitoring of bycatch, and modified fishing practices.
"Nobody is doing that at the moment," Dähne told DW.
"The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which is in charge of implementing these measures, is actually stating that porpoise abundance is increasing at the moment in the North and Baltic Seas – there is no indication whatsoever for this.
"They actually put the welfare of fishermen over international agreements to save porpoises from extinction ... and in the end, they may harm the fishermen by stating simply wrong facts."
Germany is a big fan of celebrity animals. Sometimes it’s because of an endearing physical characteristic. At other times, it's down to a news story or viral clip that grips the nation.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
Knut the baby polar bear
Perhaps the most famous of all German celebrity animals is the polar bear Knut. Born in 2006, Knut was rejected by his mother and had to be hand-reared by zookeepers. He brought the Berlin Tierpark zoo widespread media attention and even appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. However, Knut died from a suspected brain tumor in 2011.
Image: AP/Archiv Zoo Berlin
Heidi the cross-eyed opossum
The internet era might help explain the popularity of Heidi the cross-eyed opossum, who won an army of fans after she was featured on a local television clip that went viral. Heidi's distinctive eye condition was thought to be due to fatty deposits behind her eyes. At the time Heidi was euthanized because of old age in 2011, she had three times more Facebook fans than Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
Tuffi the tumbling elephant
Back in the 1950s, Tuffi the elephant became an overnight star. As a marketing ruse, a circus boss put the four-year-old pachyderm on a wagon of the overhead monorail in the city of Wuppertal. The animal panicked and bolted as the wagon moved, falling some 12 meters (40 feet) into the river Wupper. The incident is remembered here in a mural by the river. Tuffi lived on for decades, until 1989.
Image: Creative Commons/Atamari
Bulette the Berlin hippo
Bulette became a popular attraction at the Berlin Zoological Garden, living to the ripe old age of 53. That made her Europe’s oldest hippo at the time she died in 2005, living a life 30 or 40 years longer than would be the case in the wild. Admittedly, she came from good stock. Her father Knautschke was the only large animal from the zoo to survive World War Two.
Image: picture-alliance/Berliner Kurier/P. Müller
Paul the octopus oracle
Paul shot to fame during the 2010 South Africa World Cup after correctly "predicting" the outcome of several Germany matches, as well as the final. Paul would be offered boxes containing tasty morsels and flags of the competing teams. When the clairvoyant cephalopod rightly indicated that Germany would lose to Spain in the semifinals, he was subject to death threats. Paul died later the same year.
Image: AP
Bruno the problem bear
Brown bears haven't lived in the wild in Germany since 1835. Bruno made headlines in May 2006, after wandering from a north Italian nature reserve to Bavaria. Bruno caused a stir when he began searching for food around houses and appeared to have lost any fear of humans. He was shot by hunters after attempts to catch him failed. As the photo shows, Bruno was later stuffed and wound up in a museum.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Kneffel
Yvonne the runaway cow
Bavaria was also the setting for another animal drama in 2011, when six-year-old brown dairy cow Yvonne escaped from her farm. The national daily tabloid Bild posted a 10,000-euro ($14,000) reward for her safe return. She was eventually rounded up and taken home. According to authorities, Yvonne "apparently got tired of the loneliness" and jumped over a fence to join a group of farm cows.
