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55-478: The Little Belt is about 50 km (31 mi) long and 800 m (2,600 ft) to 28 km (17 mi) wide, and its deepest point is at Marens Hul west of the island of Fænø , at 81 m (266 ft), which makes it deeper than its sister strait, the Great Belt . Numerous small Danish islands lie within the belt. In part because of its depth, 10% of the water moving between the inner Baltic Sea and

110-416: A coastal distribution that potentially brings them close to sources of pollution. Porpoises may not experience any toxic effects until they draw on their fat reserves, such as in periods of food shortage, migration or reproduction. An increase in the temperature of the sea water is likely to affect the distribution of porpoises and their prey, but has not been shown to occur. Reduced stocks of sand eel along

165-634: A financial compensation of 90 million Danish kroner , and Finland withdrew the lawsuit. On 4 April 2024, the Danish Maritime Authority ordered the closure of an area of the strait south-west of Korsør to shipping and aviation after a missile launcher aboard HDMS Niels Juel malfunctioned during a naval exercise. 55°19′59″N 11°00′00″E  /  55.333°N 11.000°E  / 55.333; 11.000 Harbour porpoise Delphinus phocoena Linnaeus, 1758 The harbour porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena )

220-553: A fixed traffic connection over the Great Belt (later Great Belt Fixed Link ), including a bridge that Finland alleged would prevent the passage of certain ships to and from Finland: Finnish-built mobile offshore drilling units would be unable to pass beneath the bridge. The case was discontinued in 1992, before the Court had to rule on the merits, because Finland and Denmark reached a negotiated settlement. The two countries negotiated

275-401: A high energy source. Some studies suggest porpoises are relatively sedentary and usually do not leave a certain area for long. Nevertheless, they have been recorded to move from onshore to offshore waters along coast. Dives of 220 metres (120 fathoms) by harbour porpoises have been recorded. Dives can last five minutes but typically last one minute. The social life of harbour porpoises

330-430: A maximum weight of around 76 kg (168 lb) compared with the males' 61 kg (134 lb). The body is robust, and the animal is at its maximum girth just in front of its triangular dorsal fin . The beak is poorly demarcated. The flippers, dorsal fin, tail fin and back are a dark grey. The sides are a slightly speckled, lighter grey. The underside is much whiter, though there are usually grey stripes running along

385-666: A tunnel also runs under the East Channel. In pre-glacial times a river, which the Baltic Sea basin then contained and which geologists call the Eridanos , must have passed near the region as the rise of South Swedish Dome in Neogene times diverted it south from its previous path across central Sweden. The Great Belt originated as Dana River that was eroded into existence 9000–8900 years ago when post-glacial rebound made

440-601: Is a strait between the major islands of Zealand ( Sjælland ) and Funen ( Fyn ) in Denmark . It is one of the three Danish Straits . Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferries from the late 19th century until the islands were connected by the Great Belt Fixed Link in 1997–98. The Great Belt is the largest and most important of the three Danish Straits that connect

495-586: Is about 335,000. In the Western Atlantic it is estimated that there are about 33,000 harbour porpoises along the mid-southwestern coast of Greenland (where increasing temperatures have aided them), 75,000 between the Gulf of Maine and Gulf of St. Lawrence , and 27,000 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Pacific population off mainland United States is about 73,000 and off Alaska 89,000. After sharp declines in

550-412: Is not well understood. They are generally seen as a solitary species. Most of the time, porpoises are either alone or in groups of no more than five animals. Porpoises mate promiscuously. Males produce large amounts of sperm, perhaps for sperm competition . Females become sexually mature by their third or fourth year and can calve each year for several consecutive years, being pregnant and lactating at

605-460: Is one of eight extant species of porpoise . It is one of the smallest species of cetacean . As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers . This porpoise often ventures up rivers, and has been seen hundreds of kilometres from the sea. The harbour porpoise may be polytypic , with geographically distinct populations representing distinct races: P. p. phocoena in

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660-507: Is probably a loan-translation of a Germanic word, compare Danish marsvin and Middle Dutch mereswijn (sea swine). Classical Latin had a similar name, porculus marinus . The species' taxonomic name, Phocoena phocoena , is the Latinized form of the Greek φώκαινα, phōkaina , "big seal", as described by Aristotle ; this from φώκη, phōkē , " seal ". The species is sometimes known as

715-586: Is the best documented example. Thousands of porpoises were caught there until the end of the 19th century (it was banned in 1899), and again in smaller scale during the shortages that occurred in World War I and World War II. A similar, short-lived re-emergence of hunting during the world wars happened in Poland and the Baltic countries. Currently, the species is only hunted as part of the traditional Inuit hunt in

770-478: Is the only resident cetacean in the inner Danish waters. Observation tours are accessible nearby as well. Other species such as minke , humpback , and fin whales visit the waters rather sporadically. The deep waters attract many species of fish, including cod , herring , and sea trout , and the Little Belt is a destination for recreational fishing. Human populations lived around the Little Belt during

825-524: The Ancylus Lake that occupied the Baltic depression lose its outlets around Gothenburg tipping over in the south. The forming of the Dana River is thought to have caused a dramatic erosion of sediments, peatlands and forests along its way. This led initially to a relatively rapid fall in the lake level over hundreds of years to then continue falling at a lower pace. Rising sea levels allowed

880-661: The Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait and Atlantic Ocean . The others are the Øresund and the Little Belt straits. The Great Belt is 60 km (37 miles) long and 16–32 km (10–20 miles) wide. It flows around two major islands: Samsø in the north and Langeland to the south. At Sprogø the Great Belt divides into the East Channel and the West Channel. Both are traversed by the Great Belt Fixed Link , but

935-555: The North Sea caught them by chance. A study published by the online journal of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam points out that conjoined twins in whales and dolphins are extremely rare. The vocalizations of the harbour porpoise is made up of short clicks from 0.5 to 5 milliseconds in bursts up to two seconds long. Each click has a frequency between 1000 and 2200 hertz. Aside from communication,

990-728: The Old Little Belt Bridge in 1935 and the New Little Belt Bridge in 1970. Today, the old bridge carries local traffic and train lines, while the new bridge carries the E20 motorway . Two power lines also previously crossed the Little Belt, the first of which was dismantled and replaced by an undersea cable in 2013. 55°11′N 9°50′E  /  55.183°N 9.833°E  / 55.183; 9.833 Great Belt The Great Belt ( Danish : Storebælt , pronounced [ˈstoːɐˌpelˀt] )

1045-520: The Stone Age , hunting aurochs , reindeer , and other game in the tunnel valleys and forests. Climate and geological changes brought new plants and animals to the area and made the fishery in the fjords and neighboring archipelagoes into an important food source. Around 4000 BC, temperatures rose again, and the Funnelbeaker culture was active in the area. There are many archaeological sites from

1100-573: The University of Aberdeen in Scotland have also discovered that the local bottlenose dolphins attack and kill harbour porpoises without eating them due to competition for a decreasing food supply. An alternative explanation is that the adult dolphins exhibit infanticidal behaviour and mistake the porpoises for juvenile dolphins which they are believed to kill. Grey seals are also known to attack harbour porpoises by biting off chunks of fat as

1155-486: The Øresund . Non-Danish vessels were restricted to the Øresund channel. Merchants paid the tax under threat of having their vessels sunk or confiscated. During the middle of the 19th century, this practice became a diplomatic liability and the Danish government agreed to terminate it, achieving an international financial compensation in return. Danish waterways were consequently opened to foreign shipping. The eastern half of

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1210-404: The 19th century, local fishermen were also involved in harbour porpoise hunting. Harbor porpoises winter in Danish waterways, and fishermen would wait in the narrow parts of the belt and drive them to the shallows where they would be slaughtered. Porpoise oil, a type of whale oil , was in widespread use as a lamp oil until the spread of electric lighting undermined the porpoise hunting economy. In

1265-742: The 20th century, populations have rebounded in the inland waters of Washington state . In contrast, some subpopulations are seriously threatened. For example, there are less than 12,000 in the Black Sea, and only about 500 remaining in the Baltic Sea proper, representing a sharp decrease since the mid-1900s. Harbour porpoises prefer temperate and subarctic waters. They inhabit fjords, bays, estuaries and harbours, hence their name. They feed mostly on small pelagic schooling fish, particularly herring , pollack , hake , sardine , cod , capelin , and sprat . They will, however, eat squid and crustaceans in certain places. This species tends to feed close to

1320-648: The Arctic, notably in Greenland. In prehistoric times, harbour porpoises were also hunted in many areas, for example by the Alby People of the east coast of Öland , Sweden . The main threat to porpoises is static fishing techniques such as gill and tangle nets. Bycatch in bottom-set gill nets is considered the main anthropogenic mortality factor for harbour porpoises worldwide. Several thousand die each year in incidental bycatch, which has been reported from

1375-568: The Belts. The Great Belt was historically navigable to ocean-going vessels. It still is used, despite a few collisions and near collisions with the Great Belt Bridge . The Danish navy monitors maritime traffic in the waters around the Great Belt. In the reign of king Eric of Pomerania the Danish government began to receive a large part of its income from the so-called ' Sound Dues ' toll on international merchant ships passing through

1430-750: The Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, off California, and along the east coast of the United States and Canada. Bottom-set gill nets are anchored to the sea floor and are up to 23 kilometres ( 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 nautical miles) in length. It is unknown why porpoises become entangled in gill nets, since several studies indicate they are able to detect these nets using their echolocation . Porpoise-scaring devices, so-called pingers, have been developed to keep porpoises out of nets and numerous studies have demonstrated they are very effective at reducing entanglement. However, concern has been raised over

1485-583: The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals ( CMS ). In 2013, the two Baltic Sea subpopulations were listed as vulnerable and critically endangered respectively by HELCOM . Although the species overall is considered to be of Least Concern by the IUCN , they consider the Baltic Sea and Western African populations critically endangered, and the subspecies P. p. relicta of

1540-578: The Funnelbeaker culture and other Neolithic cultures in the area. Throughout the Bronze Age , Iron Age , and Viking Age , trade with other populations increased, and settlements became larger and more permanent. In the 14th century, the towns of Kolding and Vejle received merchant town privileges, and today they are the area's two largest towns. From the Middle Ages until the end of

1595-530: The Great Belt is an international waterway , legally based on the 1857 Copenhagen Convention . The western half of the Great Belt (between Funen and Sprogø ) and all other parts of the Danish straits are Danish territorial waters and subject to Danish jurisdiction. In 1991, Finland instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice against Denmark, which was planning to build

1650-488: The Kattegat flows through the Little Belt. The Little Belt stretches from the town of Juelsminde in the north to the island of Als in the south, with a winding course in between. The northern end is the widest at over 15 km (9.3 mi). From there it runs southwest, narrowing to about 1 km (0.62 mi) at a place called Snævringen (The Narrows), where the two Little Belt Bridges are located. South of Fænø,

1705-595: The Little Belt ( German : Kleiner Belt ) as the northern border of Germany, and the Belt is mentioned in this context in Ernst Mortiz Arndt 's Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland? (1813) and the Deutschlandlied (1841), the third stanza of which is the current German national anthem. This reflects the fact that the Denmark-Germany border has shifted several times over the centuries, so that

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1760-648: The North Atlantic and West Africa, P. p. relicta in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov , an unnamed population in the northwest Pacific and P. p. vomerina in the northeast Pacific. Concerning the North Atlantic, an international workshop co-organised by the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission and the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research reviewed the status of the species in 2018. It concluded that

1815-470: The North Atlantic and West Africa, P. p. relicta in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, an unnamed population in the northwestern Pacific and P. p. vomerina in the northeastern Pacific. The English word porpoise comes from the French pourpois ( Old French porpais , 12th century), which is from Medieval Latin porcopiscus , which is a compound of porcus (pig) and piscus (fish). The old word

1870-428: The area include whooper swans , white-tailed eagles , western marsh harriers , spotted crakes , corn crakes , pied avocets , ruffs , short-eared owls , common terns , Arctic terns , little terns , greater scaups , common eiders , common goldeneyes , and red-breasted mergansers . The Little Belt has the highest known density of harbour porpoises in the world, and is home to several thousand individuals. It

1925-600: The clicks are used for echolocation. The harbour porpoise species is widespread in cooler coastal waters of the North Atlantic, North Pacific and the Black Sea . In the Atlantic, harbour porpoises may be present in a curved band of water running from the coast of West Africa to the coasts of Portugal, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia, Iceland , Greenland, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and

1980-493: The collapse of herring in the North Sea caused porpoises to hunt for other prey species. Reduction of prey may result from climate change, overfishing, or both. Noise from ship traffic and oil platforms is thought to affect the distribution of toothed whales, like the harbour porpoise, that use echolocation for communication and prey detection. Noise from shipping traffic, particularly busy sea lanes, appears to instigate evasive behavior, with predominantly lateral movements during

2035-639: The common porpoise in texts originating in the United Kingdom. In parts of Atlantic Canada it is known colloquially as the puffing pig, and in Norway ‘nise’, derived from an Old Norse word for sneeze; both of which refer to the sound made when porpoises surface to breathe. The harbour porpoise is a little smaller than the other porpoises, at about 67–85 cm ( 26 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 33 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) long at birth, weighing 6.4–10 kg. Adults of both sexes grow to 1.4 to 1.9 m (4 ft 7 in to 6 ft 3 in). The females are heavier, with

2090-661: The current Danish region of Southern Jutland was once part of the Duchy of Schleswig . The Little Belt has historically been an important shipping channel. In the present day, it is popular among divers for its archaeological sites and shipwrecks. Various ferry services have crossed the Little Belt over the years, including the Snoghøj - Middelfart ferry, followed by the Fredericia - Strib ferry, which became Denmark's first train ferry in 1872. Ferry crossings were replaced by

2145-631: The day and deeper dives during the night. The construction of thousands of offshore wind turbines, planned in different areas of North Sea, is known to cause displacement of porpoises from the construction site, particularly if steel monopile foundations are installed by percussive piling, where reactions can occur at distances of more than 20 km (11 nmi). Noise levels from operating wind turbines are low and unlikely to affect porpoises, even at close range. Marine top predators like porpoises and seals accumulate pollutants such as heavy metals, PCBs and pesticides in their fat tissue. Porpoises have

2200-429: The east coast of Scotland, a pattern linked to climate change, appears to be the main reason for the increase in malnutrition in porpoises in the area. Overall, the harbour porpoise is not considered threatened and the total population is in the hundreds of thousands. The harbour porpoise populations of the North Sea, Baltic Sea, western North Atlantic, Black Sea and North West Africa are protected under Appendix II of

2255-632: The eastern seaboard of the United States. The population in the Baltic Sea is limited in winter due to sea freezing, and is most common in the southwest parts of the sea. There is another band in the Pacific Ocean running from the Sea of Japan , Vladivostok , the Bering Strait , Alaska , British Columbia , and California . The populations in these regions are not continuous and are classified as separate subspecies with P. p. phocoena in

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2310-417: The fish they targeted. Almost all the fish they ate were very small, between 3 and 10 cm (1–4 in) long. A study (2024) shown that prey availability is an important driver of seasonal and diel dynamics of harbour porpoise acoustic activity in the Black Sea. In the southeastern region, porpoise activity was primarily nocturnal, with a peak from January to May, aligned with anchovy migration. On

2365-526: The harbour porpoise population structure is more complex than previously thought, with at least three genetically distinct subspecies in the North Atlantic. Given the structure of the harbour porpoise population, the workshop delineated 18 assessment areas for the North Atlantic. The harbour porpoise has a global population of at least 700,000. In 2016, a comprehensive survey of the Atlantic region in Europe, from Gibraltar to Vestfjorden in Norway, found that

2420-668: The late Weichsel glaciation, ice arrived from the south and southeast, one part of which became the Little Belt Glacier, causing hilly terrain with deep fjords. The notable tunnel valleys were formed by meltwater. The terminal moraines from the northeast ice's glacial maximum are some of the oldest in Denmark. The Little Belt is a protected wetland under the Ramsar Convention and a particularly important spot for breeding and migrating birds. Protected species in

2475-408: The noise pollution created by the pingers and whether their efficiency will diminish over time due to porpoises habituating to the sounds. Mortality resulting from trawling bycatch seems to be less of an issue, probably because porpoises are not inclined to feed inside trawls, as dolphins are known to do. Overfishing may reduce preferred prey availability for porpoises. Overfishing resulting in

2530-504: The northwestern shelf, porpoises were more active during daylight from April to October, reflecting the migration patterns of sprat . Harbour porpoises tend to be solitary foragers, but they do sometimes hunt in packs and herd fish together. Young porpoises need to consume about 7% to 8% of their body weight each day to survive, which is approximately 15 pounds or 7 kilograms of fish. Significant predators of harbour porpoises include white sharks and killer whales (orcas). Researchers at

2585-520: The oldest was 17. Harbour porpoises were traditionally hunted for food, as well as for their blubber, which was used for lighting fuel. Among others, hunting occurred in the Black Sea , off Normandy , in the Bay of Biscay , off Flanders , in the Little Belt strait, off Iceland , western Norway , in Puget Sound , Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The drive hunt in the Little Belt strait

2640-443: The population was about 467,000 harbour porpoises, making it the most abundant cetacean in the region, together with the common dolphin . Based on surveys in 1994, 2005 and 2016, the harbour porpoise population in this region is stable. The highest densities are in the southwestern North Sea and oceans of mainland Denmark ; the latter region alone is home to about 107,000-300,000 harbour porpoises. The entire North Sea population

2695-427: The same time. The gestation of the porpoise is typically 10–11 months. Most births occur in late spring and summer. Calves are weaned after 8–12 months. Their average life-span in the wild is 8–13 years, although exceptionally individuals have reached up to 20, and in captivity up to 28 years. In a study of 239 dead harbour porpoises in the Gulf of Maine–Bay of Fundy, the vast majority were less than 12 years old and

2750-406: The sea bottom, at least for waters less than 200 metres (110 fathoms) deep. However, when hunting sprat, porpoise may stay closer to the surface. When in deeper waters, porpoises may forage for mid-water fish, such as pearlsides . A study published in 2016 showed that porpoises off the coast of Denmark were hunting 200 fish per hour during the day and up to 550 per hour at night, catching 90% of

2805-545: The sea to break through the Dana River forming the Great Belt as a proper seaway. In the processes the Ancylus Lake became the Littorina Sea as salt water entered the Baltic depression. The Great Belt is home to some popular fish: flatfish , sea trout , Atlantic cod , Atlantic mackerel and garfish , which are fished avidly for sport and for sale. A large and rising population of harbour porpoises lives in

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2860-562: The strait widens to about 10 km (6.2 mi) until it reaches the Baltic Sea near Als and the South Funen Archipelago . The Little Belt's western coastline is largely broken up by irregular inlets called fjords , and both sides feature steep sand bluffs. The area around the Little Belt is shaped by numerous glacial moraines , the first of which was formed during the early Weichsel glaciation approximately 22-25,000 years ago. Approximately 14-15,000 years ago, during

2915-610: The strait. After the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen she was surrendered to the British Royal Navy , where her name was anglicized to HMS Little Belt , and she took part in the then notorious Little Belt affair in North American waters. Later the Royal Navy bestowed the name "Little Belt" on another ship , which had no Danish antecedents. 19th century proponents of German unification advocated considering

2970-542: The throat from the underside of the body. Many anomalously white coloured individuals have been confirmed, mostly in the North Atlantic, but also notably around Turkish and British coasts, and in the Wadden Sea , Bay of Fundy and around the coast of Cornwall . Although conjoined twins are rarely seen in wild mammals, the first known case of a two-headed harbour porpoise was documented in May 2017 when Dutch fishermen in

3025-482: The winter of 1854-55, 1,742 porpoises were captured, but otherwise, the catch from most winters was around 700-800 porpoises. Porpoise hunting was regulated by laws dating to at least 1593. The law was overturned by a royal resolution on May 4, 1899, although shortages during World War I and II caused short-lived resurgences in porpoise hunting. In 1801 the Danish Navy launched a 22-gun warship named Lillebælt for

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