Updated 11 March 2016 Recorded deaths of common dolphins on the west coast of Ireland between 1 January and today’s date (11 March) in 2016 have reached a new record high, with 36 confirmed so far (excluding others where species wasn’t confirmed due to body condition which were simply recorded as ‘dolphin species’). The previous high
Posts Categorized: News
Dr Simon Berrow, Chief Science Officer and Acting CEO of the IWDG, will feature on RTE Radio 1 Mooney Goes Wild between 10-11pm this Sunday (21 Feb) evening. Simon will discuss the implications of new research into concentrations of persistent pollutants in dolphins and porpoise around Europe, including Ireland. He will also talk with the
There will always for some very obvious reasons be a bias towards reporting of the larger whale species such as the fin and humpback whales along the Irish South and Southwest, as these tend to attract more public and media attention, and indeed we've almost certainly also been guilty of giving the bigger blubber species
Bottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins and Killer whales are still under huge threat due to persistent pollutants accumulated in their bodies. A new study just published in Scientific Reports (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep18573) explores levels and trends in organochlorine residues in a number of populations including bottlenose dolphins and killer whales in Ireland. This study involving 31 partners throughout
Last night's humpback whale presentation by IWDG Sightings Officer Padraig Whooley, Cape Verdes film, Q&A in Clonakilty Library was a great success, with a full house of over 50 people. Big thanks to local library staff and Micheal Plaice who were so supportive of this event from the start. Great to meet up with whale
Excellent initiative by the Irish fishing industry and BIM to start addressing the serious issue of marine debris. http://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/news/fishing-for-litter-initiative-encourages-fishermen-to-take-ashore-the-litter-they-catch-376752.html Entanglement and ingestion of marine plastic is a problem globally and locally and we have considerable evidence of plastic ingestion by whales and dolphins in Ireland including both macro-plastics and micro-plastics. There is no justification for
During the last couple of weeks, 16 male sperm whales have stranded on North Sea coasts of the UK, Holland and Germany. While not unusual for male sperm whales to be found at these latitudes, they would typically be found in deep offshore waters at or beyond the edge of the continental shelf rather than
IWDG Northern Ireland branch will host a Cetacean Effort Watch Training Day on Saturday 6th February at the Co. Antrim Yacht Club in Whitehead at 9.30AM. Entrance is free but participants must pre-register.
You'll see from the Recent Sightings on the left side of this website's homepage a sample list of the 10 most recent validated sightings from around the country, and if you select the Mapping option at the bottom of the list, it's hard not to notice that whale sightings are predominantly coming from the Southeast
Report 18th Jan 2016…… We've had no further sighting updates in almost 2 weeks now of the South Dublin group of 3 bottlenose dolphins. But a sighting received today from well know Dublin birder and sea kayaker Sean Pierce may well suggest that the trio have moved north and are in the Carlingford Lough area.