Dolphin Spotting on the Dunbar Castle II....

Last week was an eventful week for the Sea Watch Volunteers! On Tuesday, we had our very first line transect survey of the season on the Dunbar Castle II. Despite some choppy seas and rainy weather we had a very successful survey. We gathered lots of useful data and in total sighted 13 dolphins, including 3 calves which caused a photographing frenzy! Two of the dolphins spotted included Bond and Chris, both of whom are old friends of Sea Watch and members of the Adopt a Dolphin scheme.

Later in the week Hanna, a former member of the Sea Watch Foundation, gave a very interesting talk on the C-CATS Project, in which she is now involved. C-CATS or the Cardigan bay Cetacean Acoustic Tracking Study is a unique approach to acoustic monitoring that will be the first of it's kind to be conducted. Hanna is part of an interdisciplinary team of research scientists working in collaboration with the German Oceanographic museum and the University of Wales, Bangor, to conduct a unique acoustic cetacean monitoring project utilising both passive acoustic monitoring systems and a mobile hydrophone array to track cetacean movements through the water column. This project will be conducted in the waters off target rock, New Quay over the next few months. 

For more information on the C-CATS project or to follow the C-CAT blog, check out: http://www.ccats-ccats.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Sea Watch Team