Nearly 300 Sightings So Far for National Whale and Dolphin Watch 2022!
Our 21st National Whale and Dolphin Watch event started on Saturday 23rd July with watches taking place all across the UK to help create a “snapshot” view of the distribution and status of our UK dolphins, whales, and porpoises. We have now surpassed 360 sightings as we head into our final weekend of watches.
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ach year, scientists at Sea Watch Foundation offer members of the public an opportunity to act as citizen scientists and help to contribute to the scientific monitoring of cetaceans on the UK coastline. The data collected is used to better understand how we can protect and conserve these animals. This year we are running an Observers Prize Draw whereby submitting data via our website or App throughout the week you are automatically entered with an opportunity to win one of our marinethemed prizes. “This is my first time spearheading this citizen science event and I am thrilled with the amount of people who have got involved to submit their sightings this year” says Claudia Afeltra, Sightings Officer at Sea Watch Foundation, “We’ve had an influx of data submitted via our website and the SeaWatcher App that allows us to understand not only where the animals are, but where they aren’t. It is important to recognise how we can act in the future to better protect and understand the status of our oceans.” www.lancmag.com
Cetaceans can be spotted all around the UK coastline and its fascinating to see the changes occurring each year in terms of what species are spotted. After the event, our final results are written up into a report which we publish into the public domain to show all our citizen scientists how their contributions during the 9-day event transpire into helping to highlight why we need to better protect our coastal waters. Notable sightings so far this year include white-beaked dolphins off the coast of Sunderland and Whitley Bay, killer whales up in Orkney, fin and Sei whales in the Outer Hebrides and basking shark sightings in Caernarfonshire, Wales and south of Barra, Scotland. We are still hopeful for many more sightings to be submitted as we look forward to the record number of watches taking place this weekend. During last year’s event more than 1,630 sightings were reported, with over 9,000 individual animals. Memorable sightings included Humpback whales off Shetland and Inverness-shire; Atlantic white-sided dolphins off Shetland; Sowerby’s white beaked whales of the Firth of Forth, Fife; and striped dolphins off Queensferry, Lothian. To find out more about National Whale and Dolphin Watch and how you can get involved you can visit our website www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk to find your nearest watch or head to our latest sightings page to keep up to date with the latest www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/nwdw-daily-sightings
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
