Schwerin. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) has canceled a meeting scheduled for April 15 between conservation groups and fishing industry representatives to discuss protecting whales in the Baltic Sea. Instead, the minister held a press conference about the humpback whale in the Baltic, as reported by Der Spiegel.
Germany's whale crisis deepens as minister cancels key bycatch meeting
At the conference, Backhaus announced a renewed rescue attempt for the animal—nicknamed "Timmy" or "Hope"—by a private initiative. The Environment Ministry of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania stated that a department head had attended the Baltic whale protection meeting in Backhaus's place.
The canceled discussion was meant to address ways to reduce the number of whales dying as bycatch in fishing nets. "Since 2006, more than 50 harbor porpoises have died each year off Mecklenburg's coast, many in agonizing circumstances as bycatch," said marine biologist Henning von Nordheim of the University of Rostock, who was involved in the meeting, in an interview with Der Spiegel. He noted that while this has been known for years, it has received little public attention.
Critics in the debate over the Baltic whale have repeatedly pointed out that vast resources are being devoted to saving this single animal while broader wildlife and marine conservation efforts have been neglected for years. The Baltic harbor porpoise population has dwindled to just a few hundred individuals and is now considered critically endangered.
Von Nordheim emphasized that, in light of current events, it is "absolutely unacceptable" that so many whales continue to die in fishing nets in the Baltic. "These are living, sentient creatures that suffer immense pain and die in agony—just as the humpback whale may be doing now."
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