European commission could take Britain to court within two months for failure to protect harbour porpoises
theguardian.com, Friday 17 October 2014 16.14 BST
Britain is facing a referral to the European Court of Justice within two months unless it designates more protection sites for harbour porpoises, a threatened species in the North Sea.
Harbour porpoises are the most common, and smallest, cetacean species found in UK waters. Similar in appearance to bottlenose dolphins, they are very social animals, rotund in shape with a small dorsal fin that shows above the waves.
Although they are still relatively abundant, their numbers are thought to be falling fast under pressure from human activities such as fisheries bycatch, starvation, underwater noise and injuries from boats.
According to the European commission, which sent the UK a warning letter on Thursday, a failure to apply the Habitats Directive to the cetaceans now could “seriously compromise their ecological character”.
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