UK dolphin and porpoise conservation strategy: high level strategy

Glossary

A guide to terms and acronyms used across the document

Bycatch - Incidental non-target species caught in commercial fishing gear.

Cetacean - Infra-order of marine mammals that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises .

Confidence interval - A 95% confidence interval has a 0.95 probability of containing the population mean. 95% of the population distribution is contained in the confidence interval.

UK CSIP - UK Cetacean Stranding Investigation Programme.

European Protected Species (EPS) - Species listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive, which requires protection measures in relation to incidental killing and capture (e.g. fisheries bycatch) and disturbance.

Favourable Conservation Status - This is the overarching aim of the Habitats Directive. The conservation status of a species is considered favourable when the population is maintaining itself on a long-term basis, the natural range of the species is neither being reduced nor is likely to be reduced for the foreseeable future, and there is, and will probably continue to be, a sufficiently large habitat to maintain the populations on a long-term basis.

IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Marine protected area (MPA) - Area of sea protected by legislation.

OSPAR - The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic.

PCBs - Polychlorinated biphenyls.

PME - Post mortem Examination.

Special Area of Conservation - A site designated under the EU Habitats Directive. Often abbreviated to SAC.

SMASS - Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme. Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies - Body appointed by legislation to advise Governments on nature conservation issues.