Research from the largest offshore whale and dolphin survey ever conducted in Ireland and probably the largest ever in Europe were published today. The ObSERVE programme aimed to provide robust data with which to inform conservation management by assessing the importance of shelf edge habitats off western Ireland for whales and dolphins. The IWDG were partners in the ObSERVE-Acoustic project,
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The IWDG recently posted on Facebook about two trawlers fishing in the mouth of the Shannon Estuary: "Two pair trawlers seen entering the Shannon Estuary today. They were also observed in Galway Bay over the last week and landed an estimated 400-500 tonnes of sprat (later clarified as 120 tonnes) to be ground into fishmeal
Yesterday afternoon the phone started ringing from IWDG members in Dublin who had seen a story on social media about killer whales that were filmed from a trawler over the weekend. We made contact with trawlerman James Mac Cluskey who captured this event on his phone and provided us with the following details when he
I drove to Achill Island today to pick up a dead dolphin for post-mortem. Achill was one of the very first places I visited when I came to Ireland to do a PhD at UCC. Achill is a truely inspiring island, I went away after a few days with an new "favourite" place and a dog called
A group of people in Ireland interested in whales and dolphins met 28 years ago in Dublin. They formed the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group to try and improve recording of whales, dolphins and porpoise. Although we knew Irish waters were important for whales and dolphins we didn’t know where and when they occurred or
IWDG Science Officer Seán O'Callaghan reports from RV Celtic Explorer after the third and final week of the annual Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Fisheries Survey. This is the 15th consecutive year the IWDG have conducted a cetacean survey using this research platform which estimates the biomass of herring for stock assessments. It is one of the
Ther IWDG have been encouraging lkocal members to form local groups in their area to meet up with like-minded people and improving local recording through visiting strandings, recording sightings and carrying out effort watches from local headlands. We are delighted to anoune five local groups have been established to date http://www.iwdg.ie/aboutus/groups/ Typically local groups use email
30 October 2018 The spate of beaked whale strandings reported to the IWDG has finished. There is little to report regarding the UME. The Irish government is providing support to the UK investigation and IWDG have supplied the few tissue samples we have from four stranded beaked whales to the Natural History Museum of Denmark, Section
The IWDG whale and dolphin recording schemes are the backbone of the IWDG. This is the source of information on what occurs where and when and identifies unusual stranding events, such as the current Cuvier's beaked whale UME (Unusual Mortality Event). The IWDG rely on a network of recorders to provide these data; to visit,
IWDG contribution to his months This Island Nation concerns the role of whales and dolphins as sentinel species, reflecting the health of our marine ecosytems. https://www.mixcloud.com/CRY104FM/this-island-nation-1st-october-2018/ Common dolphins © Nick Massett IWDG contribution to his months This Island Nation reflects on the spread of humpback whale sightings along the west coast of Ireland and the potential