OCEANTIMES
RECORD ON THE SHORE
GARRETSTOWN
BEACH
By ORCA SciComm Team. Photograph by Rory Horgan.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
ISSUE NO. 1 JULY 2021
On the evening of Thursday, July 8th, a dolphin washed ashore at Garretstown Beach, Co. Cork, and was logged on the OBSERVERS App, ORCA Ireland's Citizen Science pocket-conservation tool for monitoring marine megafauna Thanks again to local "Corkonian" Rory Horgan. ORCA Ireland's Marine Mammal Stranding Responders identified the deceased dolphin as a short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and attended the stranding on Friday 9th of July 2021 to conduct a gross examination of the carcass. All records of stranded marine megafauna are important to monitor as they represent a minimum measure of at-sea mortality. When trained ORCA Ireland Marine Mammal Responders examine carcasses in the field, they look for evidence of human interaction e.g. by-catch in fishing gear but also sex the animal and take important measurements that can tell us more about the life history of the animal. We run regular training courses via Zoom for ORCA Ireland members to become prepared for responding to live and dead stranded marine mammals. To sign up for our next course email us at welfare.orca@gmail.com. The 1-day course costs €80 for non-members and €64 for ORCA O M A D I CMarine | 24 members and includes a copy of ORCANIreland's Mammal Stranding Guide. OCEAN TIMES
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