Thesis Defense: Presence and possible threats to Harbor porpoises in the Westfjords, Iceland

In the coming weeks, UW master's students will defend their theses. The subjects are varied and the students are from both master's programs, Coastal Marine Management and Coastal Communities and Regional Development. The defenses are accessible to everyone through zoom links but they are also open to the public, at the University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður.

Student: Mette Baunsø Kring
Thesis title: Presence and possible threats to Harbor porpoises in the Westfjords, Iceland
Program: Coastal Marine Management
Abstract: Harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are protected in Iceland through international agreements such as Bern Convention and CITES. The aim of this study is to study the presence of harbor porpoises in the Westfjords in Iceland, to understand potential threats from fishing and aquaculture activities, and what possible solutions there could be for these threats. This study has been done through fieldwork and literature study. Literature study was done to determine fishing activities in The Westfjords, and management of harbor porpoises in the other Nordic countries were investigated. Fieldwork was done from start November 2021 to middle of January 2022. Five C-Pods were deployed in five different locations in the Westfjords, all in the area called Isafjordjup. However, when retrieving the C Pods, only four had collected data. In the same period and area, landbased visual surveys were also conducted, to gather supplying information on the harbor porpoises. The data collected from this was very scarce though, as not many observations of the animals were made. The data from the C-Pods were later processed through the software cpod.exe and analyzed in Microsoft Excel. Through these data, presence of harbor porpoises could be determined, together with indications of certain behavior like diurnal/nocturnal activity and feeding. Also, geographical overlaps of fishing and aquaculture activities, and presence of harbor porpoises were found.

Zoom link: https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/69244701237

Defense schedule for this defense season: