An investigation on the evolution and conservation of the harbor porpoise, phocoena phocoena in Turkey

Abstract

In 2008, the species Phocoena phocoena was categorized as “least concern” and Phocoena phocoena ssp. relicta, as “endangered,” on the IUCN Red List. In the last five decades, the number of harbor porpoises in the Black Sea declined significantly, especially due to mass killings associated with commercial fisheries. Tissue samples of 71 individuals of the Phocoena phocoena were collected from 33 locations in Turkey: the western Black Sea (n = 44), the eastern Black Sea (n = 11), the Marmara Sea (n = 14), and the Aegean Sea (n = 2). Samples were either stranded or by-catch from fisheries. Consistent with other studies, none of the haplotypes we found clustered with Atlantic populations. The most common haplotype in the study was found in 49 individuals. The study uncovered five total unique haplotypes from the Black Sea samples. All of them were found in the western Black Sea region. The idea that harbor porpoises from the Aegean Sea first came from the Black Sea through the Istanbul and Dardanelles Straits is supported by our findings. Our data also supports the possibility that there is an isolated population in the Sea of Marmara because four of the individuals we observed shared a unique haplotype with previously studied individuals in the same region. As a result of these findings, it was concluded that the Phocoena phocoena population in the Sea of Marmara should be treated of as a management unit (MU) for conservation purposes.