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Posted in: News
Large Whale Strandings on the French Coast: Update
Fin whales dominate after rare Bryde's whale stranding
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Posted in: News
UPDATE: Sprat fishing continues …
No response from the Department as many groups raise this issue
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📅 SAVE THE DATE! Whale Tales 2020 - the IWDG annual conference - Saturday the 12th of December!
>>>>>Only 18 days away!<<<<<
Join us for our annual free event, where you will meet other members and officers of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and hear fascinating stories from home and abroad!
We will kick off this year's programme with Pádraig Whooley who will look back over interesting sightings of the year and the stories and people behind them.
Pádraig is IWDG Sightings Officer since 1999 but His involvement with IWDG dates back to 1992. Since those early days he has travelled extensively in search of whales, before moving to Cork in 1999. He spent much of the next decade monitoring fin and humpback whales along the West Cork coast. He is an advocate of sustainable Whale Watching and is a regular contributor to a range of natural history publications, media and wildlife documentaries.
Check out our website here for more info on how to book
👉https://iwdg.ie/whale-tales-2020/
We are Looking forward to see you all there!
#iwdg #whaletales2020 #conference #sightings #whales #dolphins #research
IWDG were disappointed to record two trawlers fishing in the Lower River Shannon SAC today. They were first observed fishing off Ballybunnion Bank in the outer estuary this morning and were finally observed leaving the SAC around 4pm. They were not visible on marine traffic as there AIS was switched off.
We emphasize that there is nothing illegal about this activity, and the vessels are allowed to fish within this Marine Protected Area, which lists bottlenose dolphins as one of the qualifying interests. However it is the opinion of the IWDG that this is at odds with the purpose of an MPA.
Managing commercial fishing in SACs is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and The Marine Institute have previously carried out an assessment of the impact of fisheries on dolphins in the Lower River Shannon SAC, which the IWDG found to be totally inadequate. Included in this assessment was the opinion that bottlenose dolphins do not feed on pelagic prey and they referenced a study from New Zealand that used stable isotopes to determine diet. Interestingly this assessment is no longer available online (fishingnet.ie/). In the opinion of the IWDG no extraction of tonnes of potentially important prey should be allowed from the Shannon Estuary unless it can be shown, to a high level of certainty, that it would have no effect on dolphins. Unless this can be shown, pelagic fishing should NOT be allowed within the SAC.
These concerns were raised in the Daíl, nearly 20 years ago to the day (www.irishtimes.com/news/fears-that-shannon-estuary-dolphins-are-threatened-by-sprat-fishermen), clearly no government really takes this issue seriously.
Given the huge pressure mounting to designate 10% of Irish waters immediately as MPAs and up to 30% by 2030 surely it’s about time to properly manage existing MPAs, which have been designated under EU law.
Take a sneak peek at the IWDG✨NEW! 2021 Calendar!
This beautiful calendar takes you through the year with stunning images of Whales, Dolphins and the people that are passionate about them.
The proceeds from this calendar will go directly to the Shannon Dolphin Project 🐬 based in Kilrush, Co. Clare.
Head over to our website to grab yours Now!!
iwdg.ie/product/iwdg-calendar-2021/
#IWDG #2021calendar #shannondolphinproject #whales #dolphins
