Marine Mammals

Just four marine mammal species breed in the Baltic Sea today. Three of them are seals - the grey seal, the common or harbour seal and the ringed seal; the fourth - the harbour porpoise - is a small whale.

Caught up in fishing nets

More detailed information is needed on fishing by-catches, especially the significant numbers of marine mammals accidentally caught in fishing nets and traps. The following figures indicate the average annual by-catches of marine mammals between 1994 and 1998:

Harbour porpoise

• 5 in Polish waters

• 3-5 in Swedish waters

• 12 in German waters

Seals

• 200 (80% grey seals) in Estonian waters

• 9 in Polish waters

• 0 - 1 in German waters

• 400 in Swedish waters

(by-catch statistics are not available for several countries)

	Sub-fossil remains of killer whales (Orcinus orca), and even one enormous grey whale (Eschirichtius robustus), have been found in sediments around the Baltic laid down in post-glacial seas that were better connected to the Atlantic.