From the Isle of Lewis to the Legendary Island of 20,000 saints - Bardsey!
As the Isle of Lewis field season draws to a close we’d like to say a huge thank you to Sarah, Nicola and Team Canine for their informative, inspiring and at times, emotional account of their days spent in this stunning corner of the world.
It’s now time to pass the baton to the Bardsey Island crew who will soon be heading up to North Wales to start their field season.
For those of you who have never heard of Bardsey (or Ynys Enlli as we say in my mother tongue) it’s a small island just over one and a half miles long and half a mile wide which lies just off the tip of the Lleyn peninsula.
For such a small island it has an incredibly rich spiritual heritage and Bardsey has been noted as an important place of pilgrimage since the early days of Christianity. Three pilgrimages to Bardsey were apparently equal to one to Rome.
Today Bardsey is just as famous for its stunning nature and scenery and is recognised internationally for its outstanding wildlife, in particular the birdlife, sea cliff habitats and marine wildlife.
WDCS’s interest in Bardsey was first sparked over 10 years ago. Local boat operators and visitors to Bardsey were increasingly reporting regular sightings of Risso’s dolphins around the island. So, in 1999 WDCS joined forces with the Friends of Cardigan Bay and initiated a pilot photo-identification study for Risso’s. During the study period a total of 133 Risso’s dolphins have been catalogued. Our work on Bardsey has already produced some exciting results and has demonstrated the presence of certain individuals year after year. Whatsmore, individuals identified off Bardsey have even been resighted in different parts of the UK.
WDCS is beginning to recognise the waters around Bardsey as a breeding and nursery area for Risso’s dolphin as well as an important feeding ground.
Our base on the island will be the Bird Observatory which was established in 1953 largely due to the island’s position on important migration routes. The island boasts a vast breeding colony of manx shearwaters and sizeable numbers of choughs and oystercatchers. Recent evidence suggests puffins may also be making a return to the island. Atlantic grey seals are to be seen in the rocky bays of the island and a small number breed on Bardsey each year.
WDCS will also have a base on the mainland looking across to the island monitoring the waters of Bardsey Sound.
The spirituality and sacredness of this island, together with its legendary claim to be the final resting place of King Arthur, have given the island a special place in the cultural life of Wales and has attracted artists, writers and musicians for centuries. Now, in recent years, we can add marine mammal scientists to the list.
We depart for Bardsey this weekend so please stay tuned for the Bardsey Blog.
Hwyl fawr
Thursday 21 October 2010
Wednesday 11 August 2010
Orcas of the Salish Sea
WDCS's Rob Lott introduces us to the orca of the Salish Sea in the latest blog installment ...
It’s 7am on a beautiful, still July morning in the Pacific Northwest. I’m standing on the balcony of the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island looking across Haro Strait. In the distance I can see the snow-capped mountains of the Olympic peninsula and the southern tip of Vancouver Island……and right out front, just beyond the reef, a series of black dorsal fins break the surface in perfect synchrony heralding the arrival of J pod!
J Pod (together with K and L pod) form part of a large extended family or clan known as the Southern Residents and during the summer months they are frequently seen in the protected inshore waters around the southern part of Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands - an area known as the Salish Sea.
WDCS supporters, through our Adopt-An–Orca programme, will be familiar with the Northern Residents – a community of orcas totaling about 240 individuals found a few hundred miles north from here at the top end of Vancouver Island.
The Southern Residents however, as of the start of 2010, number just 89 individuals. One member of this community not included in this figure is Lolita who currently resides in a tiny concrete tank at Miami Seaquarium - a ‘home’ she has endured for the last 40 years of her life! Lolita is the sole surviving reminder of the dark days during the late 60’s and early 70’s when 45 orcas were taken from this community for public display in marine parks all across North America……a further 13 orcas where killed during the capture process.
Whilst the live capture of orcas for public display was outlawed in the US in the late 1970’s (leaving the insatiable appetite of the marine park owners to look further afield for new ‘baby Shamus’) the Southern Resident community has since struggled to recover to its historic level. Today they face new threats - both environmental and anthropogenic - and, in 2005, this population was placed on the Endangered Species List.
While measures are currently in place to address some of the issues affecting this population e.g. regulating vessel traffic in the vicinity of orcas and the control of pollution, the overwhelming message is clear - these animals need abundant salmon. The equation is simple - if you save the salmon you’ll save the orca. The relevant environmental authorities must take drastic action in restoring wild salmon habitats to ensure this fragile population is not lost on their watch. Implementing a sustainable fisheries policy, the removal of key dam sites and the relocation of commercial fish farms from sea pens onto land are just some of the crucial measures that will aid recovery. But public pressure and the political will are also essential in driving this message forward.
I am heartened by the energy of the researchers and conservationists, like Ken Balcomb, Executive Director of the Center for Whale Research, who has dedicated his life to protecting this fragile population. The work here reminds me of the Margaret Mead quote I first heard when I came out to the Pacific Northwest over 20 years ago.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has”
I started this blog stating 89 members of this community had been documented earlier in the year. It’s now July and for the past few days all talk has been about the disappearance of two L-pod males - L73 and L74 - both in their prime at just 24 years old and both, so far this season, missing from their pods for reasons unknown.
Like polar bears and the issue of diminishing sea ice, the challenge now facing the Southern Residents, in a future without abundant salmon, is whether they’ll be able to adapt their feeding strategies fast enough to cope with accelerating environmental change. Only time will tell.
It’s 7am on a beautiful, still July morning in the Pacific Northwest. I’m standing on the balcony of the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island looking across Haro Strait. In the distance I can see the snow-capped mountains of the Olympic peninsula and the southern tip of Vancouver Island……and right out front, just beyond the reef, a series of black dorsal fins break the surface in perfect synchrony heralding the arrival of J pod!
J Pod (together with K and L pod) form part of a large extended family or clan known as the Southern Residents and during the summer months they are frequently seen in the protected inshore waters around the southern part of Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands - an area known as the Salish Sea.
WDCS supporters, through our Adopt-An–Orca programme, will be familiar with the Northern Residents – a community of orcas totaling about 240 individuals found a few hundred miles north from here at the top end of Vancouver Island.
The Southern Residents however, as of the start of 2010, number just 89 individuals. One member of this community not included in this figure is Lolita who currently resides in a tiny concrete tank at Miami Seaquarium - a ‘home’ she has endured for the last 40 years of her life! Lolita is the sole surviving reminder of the dark days during the late 60’s and early 70’s when 45 orcas were taken from this community for public display in marine parks all across North America……a further 13 orcas where killed during the capture process.
Whilst the live capture of orcas for public display was outlawed in the US in the late 1970’s (leaving the insatiable appetite of the marine park owners to look further afield for new ‘baby Shamus’) the Southern Resident community has since struggled to recover to its historic level. Today they face new threats - both environmental and anthropogenic - and, in 2005, this population was placed on the Endangered Species List.
While measures are currently in place to address some of the issues affecting this population e.g. regulating vessel traffic in the vicinity of orcas and the control of pollution, the overwhelming message is clear - these animals need abundant salmon. The equation is simple - if you save the salmon you’ll save the orca. The relevant environmental authorities must take drastic action in restoring wild salmon habitats to ensure this fragile population is not lost on their watch. Implementing a sustainable fisheries policy, the removal of key dam sites and the relocation of commercial fish farms from sea pens onto land are just some of the crucial measures that will aid recovery. But public pressure and the political will are also essential in driving this message forward.
I am heartened by the energy of the researchers and conservationists, like Ken Balcomb, Executive Director of the Center for Whale Research, who has dedicated his life to protecting this fragile population. The work here reminds me of the Margaret Mead quote I first heard when I came out to the Pacific Northwest over 20 years ago.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has”
I started this blog stating 89 members of this community had been documented earlier in the year. It’s now July and for the past few days all talk has been about the disappearance of two L-pod males - L73 and L74 - both in their prime at just 24 years old and both, so far this season, missing from their pods for reasons unknown.
Like polar bears and the issue of diminishing sea ice, the challenge now facing the Southern Residents, in a future without abundant salmon, is whether they’ll be able to adapt their feeding strategies fast enough to cope with accelerating environmental change. Only time will tell.
Thursday 20 May 2010
Genetic study shows orcas are more than one species
It’s something that has long been suspected by researchers but recent genetic research suggests the existence of more than one species of orca.
Research studies over the last 30 years have demonstrated marked differences amongst orcas relating to their behaviour, morphology and prey preferences. By using a new genetic technique called highly parallel sequencing, scientists analysed a worldwide sample of 139 orcas and have now clearly demonstrated significant differences between groups affording certain types species status.
As a result of the study, two types of orca found in Antarctica that eat fish and seals, respectively, are suggested as separate species, along with the marine mammal eating ‘transient’ orcas of the North Pacific. Other types of orca may also be separate species or subspecies, but it will take additional analysis to be sure, the researchers said.
Rob Lott, WDCS’s Policy Manager comments:
“This breakthrough raises some important conservation management questions for orcas as it appears we are no longer looking at one single cosmopolitan species but several species of smaller populations found in a variety of geographical locations all with different ecological needs”.
Wednesday 19 May 2010
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