Radiation Protection for Marine Mammals

On May 21st, 2025, Elin Wefer presented her research at the 5th Seminar Days of the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology:

“Developing a Model to Determine Radiation Dose in Marine Mammals”

Marine mammals like the harbor porpoise are vulnerable – not just to noise and fishing, but also to radioactive substances. Their long lifespan and top trophic level lead to high radionuclide accumulation. Yet they are still missing from the official 2008 framework for environmental radiation protection, which defines reference organisms for different habitats.

The reason: data gaps and their protected status. Elin Wefer’s project MARMAD addresses this by creating a voxel-based dosimetric model of a porpoise using CT scans. Radiation transport is simulated in this model, and dose conversion factors are calculated – a key tool for future risk assessments.

Her talk offered fresh insight into an overlooked issue and showed how modern modeling can strengthen environmental protection.

More information on radioactivity 

Dossier: Radioaktivity in the ocean