Independent marine research, scientific collaboration and community-based conservation in the Firth of Clyde.
Clyde Porpoise undertakes and supports scientific research, environmental monitoring and conservation advocacy aimed at improving our understanding and protection of harbour porpoises and other cetaceans in the Firth of Clyde.
Since 2016, our work has encompassed vessel-based acoustic surveys, contributions to postgraduate and peer-reviewed scientific research, investigations into underwater noise and marine mammal disturbance, and participation in regional marine spatial planning.
Working independently, and with very limited financial resources, we have developed a substantial archive of acoustic recordings and contributed to research involving several academic institutions.
Our approach combines practical field experience, scientific investigation and local environmental knowledge, with a commitment to ensuring that research findings contribute to effective marine conservation and management.
Long-Term Acoustic Surveys
Harbour porpoises are notoriously difficult animals to study. They spend most of their lives underwater, surface briefly and rely heavily on high-frequency echolocation to navigate, locate prey and interact with their surroundings.
Much of our research involves passive acoustic monitoring, using towed hydrophone arrays aboard our research vessel, Saorsa, to detect and record their echolocation clicks.
These recordings allow us to investigate porpoise occurrence, distribution, acoustic behaviour and the characteristics of the underwater environment.
Over successive survey years, Clyde Porpoise has accumulated a substantial collection of original underwater recordings, acoustic detections, vessel tracks and associated observations.
These historical records are particularly valuable because they provide opportunities to revisit earlier surveys using improved analytical techniques, helping us investigate questions that were not necessarily anticipated when the recordings were first collected.
Current work includes reconstructing and standardising historical datasets, improving acoustic localisation and developing methods to estimate porpoise density and identify areas of potentially important habitat.
Our longer-term aim is to establish a more comprehensive understanding of harbour porpoise distribution and habitat use throughout the Clyde.
Contributions to Scientific Research
An important aspect of Clyde Porpoise’s work has been supporting scientific research through the provision of acoustic data, fieldwork, technical assistance and collaboration.
Our contributions have supported postgraduate research, the development of acoustic analysis methods and publications investigating the behaviour of wild cetaceans.
Mel Cosentino’s PhD Research
Clyde Porpoise contributed acoustic recordings and facilitated field research supporting Dr Mel Cosentino’s doctoral studies at the University of Strathclyde.
Her 2020 thesis, D-PorCCA: A New Tool to Study the Acoustic Life of Harbour Porpoises, investigated methods for studying wild harbour porpoises through their echolocation behaviour.
The research included the development of analytical tools capable of identifying porpoise clicks, examining click trains and exploring behaviours associated with feeding, social interactions and communication.
The project demonstrated how recordings collected in the field can be used to investigate aspects of porpoise behaviour that are extremely difficult to observe directly.
Clyde Porpoise’s contribution to this research remains an important part of our scientific history and our commitment to developing new approaches to studying these elusive animals.
Read Mel Cosentino’s PhD thesis
Porpoise Click Classifier (PorCC)
In 2019, research involving Clyde Porpoise contributed to the development of PorCC, a high-accuracy acoustic classifier designed to distinguish harbour porpoise echolocation clicks from other underwater sounds.
Published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, the study demonstrated improvements in the accuracy of automated porpoise click classification.
David Nairn of Clyde Porpoise was a co-author of the publication.
Reliable classification is an important part of passive acoustic monitoring, particularly when analysing large recording archives where manual examination of every detection would be impractical.
The development of PorCC represents a contribution to improving the scientific methods available for monitoring harbour porpoises.
Publication: Cosentino, M. et al. (2019). Porpoise click classifier (PorCC): A high-accuracy classifier to study harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the wild.
Kylie: A Dolphin Communicating with Porpoises?
One of the Clyde’s more unusual marine mammal stories concerns Kylie, a solitary common dolphin known to associate with harbour porpoises in the Hunterston and Fairlie area.
Clyde Porpoise’s acoustic recordings from 2016 and 2017 contributed to research investigating Kylie’s vocal behaviour and interactions with harbour porpoises.
The resulting paper, published in Bioacoustics in 2022, identified acoustic signals produced by Kylie that resembled harbour porpoise echolocation clicks.
The findings raised intriguing questions about acoustic convergence, vocal learning and interactions between different cetacean species.
David Nairn was a co-author of the study, which demonstrates how sustained local observation can contribute to research into rare and unusual animal behaviour.
Publication: Cosentino, M. et al. (2022). I beg your pardon? Acoustic behaviour of a wild solitary common dolphin who interacts with harbour porpoises.
Harbour Porpoise Distribution — Brown MSc Research
Clyde Porpoise’s vessel surveys and acoustic records also supported William Brown’s 2018 MSc research at the University of St Andrews.
His thesis, Fine scale distribution and habitat use of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in the Firth of Clyde, investigated porpoise distribution and habitat use using acoustic survey data.
The work provided an important early contribution to understanding the spatial distribution of harbour porpoises within the Clyde.
It also offers a valuable historical reference for our continuing research into porpoise density, encounter rates and habitat use.
By revisiting earlier survey data and applying consistent analytical methods, we hope to improve our understanding of how porpoises use different parts of the Clyde and whether patterns have changed over time.
Research into Fishing-Net Bycatch
Clyde Porpoise has also assisted researchers at the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), University of St Andrews, in developing methods for investigating harbour porpoise interactions with fishing nets.
Working with researchers led by Jamie Macaulay, we helped test specialised acoustic recording equipment designed to track the movements of porpoises around static fishing gear.
The equipment allows researchers to reconstruct the three-dimensional movements of echolocating animals close to fishing nets.
Understanding these interactions is important because accidental entanglement, known as bycatch, remains a significant cause of mortality for harbour porpoises in UK waters.
Clyde Porpoise’s assistance in testing the equipment was acknowledged in a 2022 scientific paper published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
Publication: Macaulay, J. et al. (2022). Passive acoustic tracking of the three-dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets.
Investigating Underwater Noise and Marine Mammal Protection
Underwater sound plays a fundamental role in the lives of cetaceans.
Harbour porpoises depend on echolocation for navigation and feeding, making the acoustic characteristics of their environment particularly important.
The Clyde supports numerous activities capable of generating underwater noise, including shipping, aquaculture, sonar, fishing vessels and marine construction.
Clyde Porpoise has undertaken independent investigations into underwater acoustic sources and their potential implications for marine mammals.
Acoustic Deterrent Devices and Environmental Regulation
One area of particular concern has been the use of acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs) associated with marine fish farms.
These devices are intended to discourage seals from approaching aquaculture installations, but some can also generate underwater sound capable of disturbing harbour porpoises and other protected cetaceans.
Clyde Porpoise has undertaken field investigations into ADD emissions, including acoustic recordings and analysis of the characteristics of signals produced by these devices.
Our work has also involved raising concerns about their potential effects on European Protected Species and the regulatory requirements governing their use.
These concerns formed part of wider scrutiny of the licensing and enforcement arrangements associated with ADDs in Scottish aquaculture.
Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) subsequently examined Marine Scotland’s approach to ensuring compliance with environmental legislation.
In 2023, ESS reported that recommendations to improve Marine Scotland’s compliance processes had been implemented, and that an informal resolution had been achieved.
Although the ESS process was concerned with regulatory compliance rather than determining whether individual operators had committed wildlife offences, its findings demonstrated the importance of effective environmental oversight.
For Clyde Porpoise, this work highlights the value of independent acoustic evidence and community-based environmental investigation in identifying potential risks to protected marine wildlife.
Read the Environmental Standards Scotland ADD findings
Marine Spatial Planning and Conservation Advocacy
Scientific research alone cannot secure the long-term protection of marine wildlife. Evidence must also inform the policies, planning decisions and management practices that shape the marine environment.
As a community-based conservation initiative, Clyde Porpoise has engaged with the Clyde marine spatial planning framework, including participation in the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership (CMPP) and related discussions concerning the sustainable management of the Firth of Clyde.
Our involvement has focused on strengthening recognition of marine mammals, their habitats and the environmental pressures they face within regional marine planning.
We have advocated for a more integrated approach to marine management, particularly the need to consider cumulative environmental impacts rather than assessing individual activities in isolation.
The Clyde supports commercial shipping, fishing, aquaculture, naval operations, recreation and coastal development. These activities can overlap with important cetacean habitats, creating pressures that vary across locations and seasons.
Through our involvement in marine planning discussions, we have sought to highlight the importance of:
- Recognising harbour porpoises and other cetaceans in marine planning and environmental assessment.
- Improving understanding of cumulative environmental pressures, including underwater noise and disturbance.
- Identifying and protecting areas of potentially important marine mammal habitat.
- Encouraging better use of scientific evidence, independent monitoring and locally collected environmental data.
- Ensuring that coastal communities and smaller conservation organisations have meaningful opportunities to contribute to marine planning and decision-making.
We believe community-based research has an important role in this process.
Long-term local observations and independent scientific investigations can provide perspectives that complement the work of government agencies, academic institutions and other marine stakeholders.
Our aim is not to oppose the sustainable use of the Clyde, but to help ensure that marine development and management decisions properly recognise the ecological needs of the species and habitats that depend upon it.
Effective marine spatial planning must consider not only how people use the sea, but also how marine wildlife uses the same waters.
Clyde Porpoise remains committed to contributing scientific evidence, local knowledge and a community conservation perspective to the development of a healthier, more resilient Clyde marine ecosystem.
Visit the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership
From Community Conservation to National Policy: The Our Seas Campaign
Clyde Porpoise’s conservation work extends beyond marine mammal research to the wider protection and recovery of Scotland’s coastal seas.
Our involvement in marine conservation has long recognised the importance of healthy seabed habitats, productive fish populations and sustainable fisheries to the functioning of marine ecosystems.
Through community-based environmental work, David Nairn was involved in the early development of the Our Seas campaign, including helping to write one of the original letters to Scotland’s First Minister raising concerns about the ecological impacts of bottom-towed fishing.
Beginning in 2018, these efforts helped establish a wider coalition of coastal community groups, fishers, scientists, marine businesses and conservation organisations seeking improvements in the management and protection of Scotland’s inshore waters.
The campaign called for a transition towards lower-impact fishing methods, improved vessel monitoring and stronger protection for vulnerable seabed habitats.
Read the original Our Seas correspondence with the First Minister
Giving Evidence to the Scottish Parliament
On 2 March 2022, David Nairn represented the Our Seas Coalition before the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee.
The committee was examining legislation concerning the seasonal Clyde cod spawning closure.
His evidence highlighted the limitations of protecting spawning grounds without addressing wider pressures on the Clyde ecosystem, including damage to nursery habitats from bottom-towed fishing.
He argued for a more integrated, ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management, recognising the connections between seabed habitats, fish populations and the wider marine food web.
The evidence also drew attention to the scientific work being undertaken by community-based organisations.
Drawing upon Clyde Porpoise’s experience, David highlighted the contribution of hydroacoustic monitoring, postgraduate research and scientific publications, together with the need for greater recognition and use of independently collected environmental data.
He also emphasised the importance of meaningful community participation in marine spatial planning and fisheries management.
Connecting Scientific Evidence with Conservation
This work illustrates an important principle underlying Clyde Porpoise’s approach to conservation.
Research has greatest value when its findings can contribute to a better understanding of environmental problems and inform practical decisions about marine management.
Healthy seabed habitats and productive fish populations are fundamental to the wider ecosystem on which harbour porpoises, dolphins and other marine predators depend.
Our involvement in the Our Seas campaign, alongside our participation in the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership, reflects a continuing commitment to connecting scientific evidence, local knowledge and community representation.
We believe that effective marine conservation depends not only on understanding individual species, but on protecting the ecological relationships and habitats that sustain them.
Parliamentary Records
The evidence given on 2 March 2022 is publicly available through the Scottish Parliament.
Read the official committee evidence transcript
Learn more about the Our Seas Coalition
Our Continuing Independent Research
Alongside collaborative projects and conservation advocacy, Clyde Porpoise continues to investigate the ecology of harbour porpoises and the environmental pressures affecting them.
Current research interests include:
- Porpoise distribution and abundance: Reanalysing historical acoustic surveys to improve estimates of porpoise occurrence, density and habitat use.
- Acoustic behaviour: Investigating click trains, feeding activity and interactions between individual animals.
- Underwater noise exposure: Examining acoustic deterrent devices, sonar and other underwater sound sources, including potential cumulative exposure.
- Important habitats: Identifying areas of repeated porpoise activity and investigating relationships with environmental conditions.
- Overlapping human pressures: Exploring where cetacean habitats coincide with fishing, shipping, aquaculture and other marine activities.
- Improved monitoring methods: Developing analytical approaches that make better use of existing acoustic recordings and support more consistent long-term monitoring.
Some of these investigations remain at a preliminary stage, with findings requiring further validation before formal publication.
We believe it is important to distinguish established scientific results from emerging observations and working hypotheses.
Nevertheless, our historical survey archive provides opportunities to answer important questions about the Clyde’s marine mammals.
Looking to the Future
Nearly a decade of independent fieldwork and scientific collaboration has established a foundation upon which Clyde Porpoise can build.
Much of this work has been undertaken without sustained external financial support, relying instead on personal commitment, practical experience and collaboration with researchers who share our scientific interests.
The considerable quantity of acoustic material already collected represents an opportunity for further research.
With additional resources and appropriate scientific partnerships, we hope to expand our monitoring capabilities, strengthen our analytical methods and develop new investigations into the conservation needs of cetaceans in the Clyde.
Our ambitions include improving porpoise abundance estimates, investigating important feeding habitats, developing better methods of assessing underwater noise exposure and contributing scientific evidence to marine planning and environmental management.
We are particularly interested in partnerships that bring together academic expertise, community knowledge and practical conservation objectives.
Clyde Porpoise demonstrates what can be achieved through independent, community-based research. With the right support, we believe there is an opportunity to make a substantially greater contribution to understanding and protecting the Clyde’s marine wildlife.
Research Partnerships and Enquiries
We welcome enquiries from researchers, universities, conservation organisations, charitable trusts and others interested in collaborative marine research and conservation.
For further information about our research, historical acoustic datasets or potential collaborations, please contact: