Harbour porpoise (Northwest Atlantic population) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 12

Special significance of the species

Neither the species nor the subspecies are endemic to eastern Canada. The species is likely to be an important upper trophic level predator, but its exact ecological role is poorly understood and there have been no natural or designed removal experiments to address this question. The species is not monotypic; there are three other species in the genus (Burmeister’s porpoise, Phocoena spinipinnis, vaquita, Phocoena sinus and spectacled porpoise, Phocoena dioptrica). The harbour porpoise is at risk throughout its range (see International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Red List Status below), primarily as a result of bycatches in fisheries. This is also true for the Burmeister’s porpoise and, particularly, for the vaquita, which is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN because of low abundance and continued bycatches in the Gulf of California.

In many areas, the species is a minor, ancillary attraction to an expanding whale-watching tourism industry (Lien 2001). The harbour porpoise is one of the best-studied cetacean species in eastern Canada, thanks primarily to the pioneering research efforts of the late Dr. David Gaskin of the University of Guelph, who died in 1998.

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