Photo:A local marine conservation charity is calling on Isle of Wight residents to lend their support for ORCA OceanWatch 2017 and help the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises.
Now in its third year, ORCA OceanWatch encourages bridge crews and seafarers across the UK ferry and cruise network to collect sightings of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) during a dedicated part of the summer.
The project aims to raise awareness of the rich diversity of marine wildlife around the UK coastline, and has had incredible support from both Wightlink and Red Funnel since it started in 2015. 2017’s programme is running from 29th July to 6th August.
ORCA are this year asking for members of the public to get involved and lend their eyes to try and identify marine mammals from land and at sea, with the Isle of Wight is a perfect location to try and catch a glimpse of some phenomenal wildlife.
Whether at sea or on land, the charity are asking members of the public to keep their eyes peeled and send them any sightings or pictures they capture of animals during this week. The data will be used for ORCA’s incidental sightings database, as well as contributing to the Sea Watch Foundation’s National Whale & Dolphin Watch, a citizen science initiative that runs in parallel to ORCA OceanWatch each year.
The Isle of Wight has regular visits from a group of harbour porpoises along the east coast, as well as bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and even the occasional minke whale – something the ORCA team have seen first-hand, with ORCA Director Sally Hamilton living on the island in St Helens.
Anna Bunney, ORCA Education Coordinator, said:
“ORCA OceanWatch has a huge impact across the UK ferry & cruise network with the support of our amazing partners, such as Wightlink and Red Funnel. This year we want the public to get involved more than ever before.
Article continues below this advertisement “The Isle of Wight is home to some stunning marine wildlife and we hope to hear about members of the public spotting stunning whales, dolphins and porpoises whilst also helping in our conservation efforts.”
To find out more about ORCA OceanWatch 2017, visit www.orcaweb.org.uk/get-involved/OceanWatch. To learn how to get involved in National Whale & Dolphin Watch, visit https://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/nwdw/.
