Dolphin spotting anyone?

Take your lessons from the sea. The Sea Watch Foundation offers unique opportunities for students to take an active role in marine conservation. Here the Foundation tells us more about their work and what they can offer schools. Let Outdoor Classroom Day inspire a generation of young activists!

Marine life is incredibly diverse and unique, there is little more exhilarating than seeing a whale or dolphin breach for the first time. However these animals face a multitude of threats from natural and anthropogenic sources. Protection of the UK’s populations of whales, dolphins and porpoises it is important to raise awareness of these threats and how they are affecting populations.
Sea Watch Foundation is a national charity focussed on improving the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the seas around the UK and Ireland. We aim to do this through monitoring population size and distribution of these mammals around the country.

Here in New Quay, volunteers arrive every summer to assist with land watches, boat surveys, data entry, photo identification and public awareness. The data collected by Sea Watch Foundation contributed to the formation of two Special Areas of Conservation in Cardigan Bay. However this does not mean the we can stop collecting data. Whales, dolphins and porpoises often migrate long distances, travelling through waters that are not protected where they are subjected to entanglement in and ingestion of litter, noise pollution from submarine development and injuries from boats.

There are many ways in which schools can get involved: check our the website, www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk for a list of our events running this year such as the annual National Whale and Dolphin Watch event from July 28th – August 5th; encourage boat users to be aware of the code of conduct for approaching marine animals and tell us about your sightings of dolphins, whales and porpoises. Our Adopt a Dolphin Scheme has also been very popular, many of the dolphins that frequent Cardigan Bay can be identified by unique markings on their dorsal fins such as nicks, notches and scars, some of these dolphins are available to adopt and as they are so easily identifiable we can track them and provide regular updates in our monthly newsletter. Schools and individuals who adopt a dolphin receive a special adoptee pack including a fluffy toy dolphin, stickers, a whale and dolphin ID guide and a special VIP password to the adopter’s area of our website where they can discover their dolphins movements using their own tracking map and receive dolphin spotting boat trip vouchers! We also aim to set up skype sessions with schools, providing the children with an opportunity to ask questions about the dolphins and our work.