HELP protect dolphins and whales by joining in with a national project.
Each year, scientists at the Sea Watch Foundation lead a campaign to monitor mammals off the British coast.
Over the past 40 years, whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) around our coast have been monitored by Sea Watch Foundation scientists as well as volunteer observers.
For the past 14 years this has been spearheaded through an annual event, the ‘National Whale & Dolphin Watch’.
This years’ event takes place between July 25and August 2.
As reported in the Echo, the waters round Portland have been visited once again by famous friendly dolphin Clet in recent weeks.
“All that people need to do to take part is to report their whale and dolphin sightings to us and to either participate in the advertised organised watches or to arrange their own. It’s very easy and we’ll explain how,” said Sea Watch Foundation’s sightings officer Kathy James.
Some species, like the bottlenose dolphin, tend to be seen in particular locations around the UK, whereas others like the harbour porpoise and minke whale have a more widespread distribution.
“Many people don’t realise the wealth of whales and dolphins we have around our coasts. You don’t need to go abroad to go whale watching or to have a dolphin experience,” said Kathy.
“We’ve recently seen an usually high number of humpback whale sightings around the UK, for example, and we have some amazing dolphin-spotting locations.
“Even if you think that your nearest coastline is uneventful in terms of cetaceans, it’s highly likely that there will be some out there – you just need to spend the time looking! And even if you don’t see anything during a watch, that information is just as valuable to us.”
As well as Clet, interesting sightings in the area recently include six bottlenose dolphins in Poole Harbour, six short-beaked common dolphins off Dartmouth, South Devon, two white-beaked dolphins off Plymouth, six Risso’s dolphins off Bude, Cornwall, a humpback whale off Porthcurno, Cornwall and seven short-beaked common dolphins off Mortehoe Bay, North Devon.
The National Whale and Dolphin Watch 2015 watch list on our website shows pre-organised events which you can join.
Visit seawatchfoundation.org.uk/nwdw-2015-watch-list
CONTACT ME:
t; 01305 830995
e: samantha.harman
@dorsetecho.co.uk
twitter: @DorsetEchoSam
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