English - Caribbean Environment Programme

4.2 SPECIESAll cetacean species found in UK waters were initially considered for inclusion but following anassessment of the available literature 52 , several were determined to be such infrequent visitors thatit was unlikely critical habitat is located in these waters. The species excluded from further analysisare: pygmy sperm whale, false killer whale, Fraser's dolphin, narwhal, beluga, melon-headedwhale, Blainville's beaked whale, Gervais' beaked whale and striped dolphin. The North Atlanticright whale at one time likely had critical habitat in UK waters but is now so rare and sightings sofew that identification of its critical habitat is impossible. For other species, if there were any doubtas to whether a lack of sightings information was due to genuinely low level occurrence, or becauseof a life history trait that renders data collection difficult (e.g. deep divers that spend little time at thesurface), the species was included to allow an assessment to be made.For some species with similar life histories, or where there are difficulties in distinguishing betweenspecies in the field sighting reports (i.e. beaked whales and baleen whales), it was consideredappropriate to assess these species as a group.In-depth assessments were completed for the following species:Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)Common minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)White-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris)Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus)1852Key papers considered in this assessment were: Reid et al, 2003; MacLeod, 2000; Evans et al, 2003;and Evans and Hammond, 2004