Collaborations, celebrations, citizen scientists at work….and cake!
Ecotourism operator The Big Duck Boat Tours www.thebigduck.com.au, Birdlife Australia http://www.birdlife.org.au, Shark Watch SA http://sharkalertsa.com, Phytoplankton of SA, Fleurieu Marine Life, the SA Whale Centre http://www.sawhalecentre.com.au, Little Penguin Monitoring Group, Friends of Granite Island…..and Dolphin Watch!
Celebrating 15 years since we expanded Dolphin Watch to include Victor Harbor with a fantastic Celebration Lunch on May 6th at the Grosvenor Hotel (enjoying long term volunteer Gloria Flamank’s beautiful birthday cake once again!) 2 busy, productive SA Whale Centre Workshops followed by a very different foggy Survey 169 on the magnificent Big Duck Boat Tours, delayed due to the weather.
Pea soup fog made for an unusual and fascinating experience for the Celebration Survey on May 12th.
Unable to see the shore in difficult conditions Skipper Alex sounded the horn every 2 minutes alerting other boats to our presence. Eventually as the fog lifted 3 Bottlenose dolphins were observed and photographed off Wright Island. Travelling further offshore 2 pods of 20+ Shortbeaked Common dolphins were encountered busily fishing. More were observed at a distance during the return journey.
The delayed survey was a great success in every way, thanks to the organization by our Victor Harbor Manager Nedra Haines, the skilful boat handling of the wonderful Big Duck crew Alex and Dan and the fantastic efforts of the Citizen Scientists, including Birdlife Australia volunteers hard at work.
Brilliant imagery and observations, and resultant data findings, included a fascinating fog rainbow (or “ghost rainbow”), disturbing new dorsal fin damage to a Bottlenose dolphin and an exciting resighting of a known Common dolphin, in the same area in Victor Harbor after 8 years!
A significant milestone since the beginning of the algal bloom in SA, was celebrated with 12 months of regular water sampling at various sites during the survey and vital data analysis and recording by stalwart volunteer Samantha Sea of Phytoplankton SA assisted by volunteer Lynlee Johnson.
Boatloads of love and gratitude to all who make it happen…..and all our wonderful sponsors, mentors and supporters in the region over 21 years!
Our grateful thanks to fabulous Team Big Duck and all our amazing volunteers, sponsors and supporters over the years.
Here’s to the next 15 years and beyond!
#15years #happybirthday #collaborations #citizenscience #cetaceanrights #love #gratitude
