| Summary: | The aim of this report was to establish what category the harbour porpoise is listed as on the Swedish national redlist as well as analyze what potential sub-criteria the species fulfills besides criteria already established. The aim was also to evaluate the willingness to pay for conservation of the harbour porpoise for the first time and make a comparison of the willingness to pay between geographic places where the harbour porpoise is currently existing and where it is not. The subpopulation of the harbour porpoise in Skagerrak-Kattegat is listed as vulnerable (VU) on the national redlist and the subpopulation in the Baltic sea is listed as critically endangered (CR). Actions and precautions which have been made for conservation and protection of the harbour porpoises in Swedish waters are new Swedish laws and law proposals as well as formations of organizations such as ASCOBANS and further research. The results from the survey showed that the mean of the single time payment sum those questioned were prepared to pay to retain the porpoises at a stable population level was 273 SEK. Geographically the study showed no significant difference in geographic position and where the harbour porpoise exists but showed that the inhabitants of the south-east coast were willing to pay about half the sum, 165 SEK, of the mean sum that the north-east coast were willing to pay, 335 SEK. The results regarding the populations’ conjecture of historical threats and threats nowadays showed a significant difference from reality. Overfishing of prey had the highest amount of answers as a threat both historically and nowadays. Bycatch, which is accepted as todays biggest threat by researchers and organizations, came third place in the results from the survey study with a percentage of 14.5 %.
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