We find ourselves in unique circumstances with our lives on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With every day that passes there is a sense that something unpleasant is coming down the line, but the “when’s and where’s” aren’t well understood and this uncertainty is making a bad situation worse. Heck, even getting out to
27 March 2020 The whale-watching and research on Humpback Whales came to a halt in the past week. We had a noticeably good start to the season, seeing whales on all but one boat trip. The images that we were taking of tail flukes and dorsal images, showed that there were many whales passing through
The annual meeting of the IWDG’s Stranding Network was held in Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology on the 7th of March 2020. Despite having to cancel and reschedule this event due to a Red Weather Warning, there was a fantastic turnout with over 30 members of the stranding network present. The stranding network meeting offers a
2020 has so far proven to be another bad year for common dolphins in Irish waters. As mentioned in a previous article, the high numbers of dead dolphins washing ashore in Ireland during January and February have continued from 2011 right up to this year. We have gone from numbers less than 10 in these
The IWDG are seeking a new sponsor for their pioneering WhaleTrack Ireland Project. WhaleTrack Ireland seeks to understand how large whales, especially humpback whales, are using Irish waters largely through “Citizen Science”. Where do these whales breed ? Are the same individual whales coming back to Ireland and how long do they stay ? How
Every year since 2011, stranding of whales, dolphins and porpoises on the Irish coast have become extremely high compared to historical levels so that we now record twice as many as this time 10 years ago. Unfortunately, it feels like Groundhog Day now – we say the same thing every year and mostly it feels
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group have recently matched an individual humpback whale from Ireland to a breeding ground in Cabo Verde. In order to assist in the going research and monitoring of the humpback whale population in Cabo Verde, the IWDG wish to recruit a biologist for the 2020 breeding season. The biologist will
Report II, 6th Jan 2020 IWDG received a phone call this morning from Helen Tilson, Schull Sea Safari which seems to confirm that the male hooded seal that was alive on Jan 1st at Toormore Bay, has been found this morning dead at Colla Pier, near Schull some 11 km east. The relevant authorities have
What is happening to Cuvier’s beaked whales? By now, hopefully, many people are aware that the annual number of stranded whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) in Ireland has virtually doubled in the last ten years and that much of this increase has been due to a huge rise in the numbers of dead common dolphins
Why not make collecting and submitting records of whales and dolphins in Irish waters your NEW YEAR RESOLUTION !! The core work of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group involves collecting sighting and stranding records of whales, dolphins and porpoises in Irish waters (https://iwdg.ie/recording-schemes/). These records are essential for determining what species occurs where and