The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) was delighted to attend the official launch of the ACCLIMATISE project at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) headquarters in Belfast on Thursday 26th March. Representing IWDG at the event were Citizen Science Officer Jo Green and Science Officer Jack O’Callaghan, alongside project partners from across Ireland, Northern
Codes of Conduct to limit disturbance to marine wildlife by marine tourism have been rolled out throughout the world. From whale watching to approaching seal haul out sites or breeding seabird colonies, whale sharks to sunfish, many species of marine megafauna, some endangered, are targeted by marine tourism and a balance needs to be found
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group is delighted to announce that it has once again received funding through the Heritage Council’s Organisation Support Fund for 2026. This funding will strengthen IWDG’s organisational capacity, enabling us to continue protecting Ireland’s marine biodiversity while expanding our public engagement, citizen science programmes, and organisational development. The programme supports
Interested in a weekend with a difference? Why not join the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) www.iwdg.ie, Ireland’s leading marine conservation NGO, on a weekend whale-watching course in West Cork during summer 2026. In taking part, you will also be actively supporting whale and dolphin conservation and research in Ireland. Our 2026 residential weekend will once
IWDG member and marine ecologist, Siún Ní Cheallaigh, began to develop a photo-identification catalogue for Risso’s dolphins in Ireland last summer. The initial funding to cover the cost of targeted photo-identification survey effort was granted by Galway Atlantaquaria’s funding for small conservation projects. Historical images of Risso’s dolphins going back as far as 2003 were
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has announced that 2026 will be the final season for its dedicated research sailing vessel, Celtic Mist. The 17-metre yacht was donated to the IWDG by the Haughey family in 2011 and has surveyed more than 100,000 km of Irish inshore and offshore waters since 2012. The vessel
The IWDG read with interest the recent Marine Institute Report “Crayfish catch and bycatch in the tangle net fishery off the southwest coast of Ireland in 2021 – 2024” (EMFAF 2021-2027 Marine Institute Report Series). We are very concerned with the high level of bycatch documented in this fishery. The study examined catch and bycatch
MARÉIRE, the project that brings together the IWDG, Birdwatch Ireland and the Irish Environmental Network (IEN) to better understand and protect marine biodiversity in relation to offshore renewable energy (ORE), has recently launched a new website (www.mareire.ie). The website outlines the work of the project in “finding a balance between mitigating the climate crisis and
Introduction & Summary of 2025 2025 could turn out to be something of a watershed year for humpback whales in Irish waters. In terms of numbers of sightings, the past two years were very different with 150 sightings in 2024/5 compared with 104 in 2025/6, an almost 30% decline. This can’t easily be explained by
We were discussing only yesterday what our next IWDG “Flukes” magazine might look like, and we’ve settled on the theme of “Change”, which based on this morning’s observations by Dave O’ Connor at Howth Head, could be timely. For Dave, not only records what he sees, but also documents his observations with strong photography. Among