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Student training in Walvis Bay

February 11, 2013, 7:45 am
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By Monica Betts - University of Pretoria MSc student.

On 25th of January 2013 I arrived in Namibia to begin the first part of my Master’s degree under the supervision of Dr Simon Elwen. The main purpose of my visit has been to get some hands on training in order to prepare me for the field work phase of my project. I will be taking over the collection of data for the long term cetacean project currently underway in Mossel Bay, South Africa as well was conducting my Master’s project.

During my Master’s project, I will be working towards establishing some baseline data needed to apply static acoustic monitoring using CPODs  (echolocation click detectors) to studying dolphin populations on the east coast of South Africa. I will be looking into measuring the detection distance of animals and also trying to acoustically differentiate my two study two species, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. If we can get this right, then we’ll be able to use CPODs (which are relatively cheap compared to other types of hydrophone) to improve our understanding of the distributions and behaviour of these species by using CPODs for long term 24-hour monitoring. 

When I first arrived in Walvis Bay the terms ‘CPOD’, ‘Databases’,’ Photo-ID’ and ‘Theodolite’ were completely foreign to me. However, over the last few weeks that has changed. I now know that a CPOD is a device used to detect cetacean clicks over a long period of time, photographing and identifying dolphins involves a lot more than just a good camera, databases that are organized and detailed are essential from the start of the project and theodolite work requires patience and  attention to detail.

My experience here in Walvis Bay has been incredible. I found I have learnt so much in a very short space of time. The most important lesson I have learnt that is although working with dolphins involves a lot of hard work, if it is done properly it can yield satisfying and sometime very surprising results.  I am very grateful to have the opportunity to work with these lovely creatures and look forward to learning more and more about them.

Monica.


 MONICA HAULING HER FIRST CPOD

  HANNAH (RATHER CASUALLY) ASSISTING

 SOME RATHER IMPRESSIVE DOLPHIN JUMPS SEEN AT THE POINT


SKY DOLPHIN
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Rescuing a pygmy right whale

February 17, 2013, 5:34 am
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Ruth has done a great story on her West African Cetaceans blog, about the recent rescue of a baby pygmy right whale which stranded at the Walvis Bay pump station - so head over there to read the full story:

http://www.westafricacetaceans.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-close-encounter-with-worlds-smallest.html

For here, just a few pics:

 EYE OF THE WHALE

STRONGLY ARCHED JAW CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SPECIES 


THE NARROW ROSTRUM IS QUITE DIFFERENT TO MOST BALEEN WHALES  

KEPT COVERED AND WET ALL AFTERNOON WHILE WE WAITED FOR THE TIDE
GETTING IT ON THE STRETCHER 

AND OUT TO SEA
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A recent spate of strandings in Walvis Bay

March 27, 2013, 2:58 am
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In addition to the pygmy right whale stranding detailed in the blog post below, we have had several others recently. A quick thanks to all involved in reporting and assisting at the various events including the Walvis Bay Salt Works for access to the pump station and reporting strandings,  Naude Dreyer of Sandwich Harbour tours for coordinating and always being available to assist, Neels Dreyer and John Paterson for their role in coordinating communication within the Walvis Bay Strandings Network (WBSN), Levo Tours for reporting the 2nd pygmy right whale in the harbour, Jeanne Meintjies of Eco-Marine Kayak Tours and Jaco Louw who helped with the attempted rescue of the pygmy sperm whale.

A few pics of use working up the various animals below. Collecting standard measurements, skin samples and where possible the skulls for the museum collection.





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Cetacean Surveys of the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area 2013

April 28, 2013, 1:06 pm
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After a very successful series of surveys of the NIMPA in 2012, we are happy to be continuing the work here with the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

The ship we're using has a lot of obligations: surveying for lobsters, doing environmental monitoring lines and supplying the islands (and islanders) with water, food and crew. Then there is bad weather…so there is always a queue to get on the ship and we were very happy to get a good clear 3 straight days last week in an excellent forecast.

The forecast held and we had some of the best weather I've ever had at sea on a ship. Day 01 was a bit swelly still (with some associated sea sickness from us all), but day 2 and 3 were glassy flat and lovely. The area we surveyed is just to the south of Luderitz Bay and straddles the heart of the main upwelling cell within the Benguela ecosystem. This upwelling cell is so strong and so fast moving that there is (counterintuitively) remarkably little life there as there hasn't been a chance for the nutrients to get converted into phytoplankton and move up the food chain. Last year, we only got one day in this area and no sightings but it was horrible misty, swell weather, so it was important for us to get into this area again to confirm our findings.  Given potential for low sightings, we were thus quite happy to have had 22 dusky dolphin sightings and 5 whale sightings over the 3 days (although they mostly happened close to shore and outside of the upwelling cell) and the hydrophone worked like a bomb the whole time.

A numerical summary:
3 days, 2 nights
842 km surveyed
22 dolphin sightings
5 whale sightings
and
~500 GIGS of acoustic data collected

Heaviside's dolphins echolocate at a very high frequency (are~120kHz), we have to record up to 250 kHz to cover the entire click's frequency range - this is more than 10X the data density (quality) of a normal 'human' recording. To put it in perspective, we fill a CD with data every 5 minutes.

A WILSON'S STORM PETREL OVER GLASSY FLAT SEAS

A DUSKY DOLPHIN SURFACES UNDER THE BOW OF THE !ANICHAB BEFORE DAWN

A BALEEN WHALE SEEN IN ABOUT 180M OF WATER - PROBABLY A MINKE, SEI  OR BRYDE'S WHALE

SURVEY ROUTE WE FOLLOWED


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A rare and mysterious visitor in Walvis Bay

May 14, 2013, 3:12 am
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by: John Paterson, Albatross Task Force and Walvis Bay Strandings Network

Gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, live in the high Arctic and northern Pacific Oceans coming as far south as Baja California and Mexico on the west coast of America and the Korean Peninsula to breed in summer. It used to occur in the North Atlantic Ocean, but was hunted to extinction in the 1700’s. It does not venture south of the equator. Or so we thought.

Last Saturday, 04 May 2013, tour boats doing dolphin cruises to Pelican Point saw a strange whale. Several more sightings during the following week seemed to indicate the unlikely fact that a gray whale was visiting Walvis Bay! On Sunday 12 May a member of the Walvis Bay strandings network confirmed the reports that there was a gray whale about. This is the first known record of this species in the Southern Hemisphere. The question is now “what is the origin of this whale?”
In May 2010 a gray whale was seen off Israel in the Mediterranean sea and the same whale was seen 22 days later in Spanish waters, also in the Med. This sighting raised much speculation on the origin of the whale and the reasons for its appearance. It was suggested that the whale originated from the eastern Pacific population and was able to navigate around the northern Canada due to the reduction in size of the Arctic ice cap caused by global warming. This climatic trend would potentially allow these whales to re-colonise their historic range in the north Atlantic. The authors of that report stressed that it was difficult to draw conclusions from a single event and were only proposing likely hypotheses. Three years later a gray whale makes its mysterious appearance in Walvis Bay. Comparing photographs of the Walvis Bay animal with the Mediterranean animal (courtesy of Aviad Scheinin -  http://www.hamaarag.org.il ), it seems unlikely that this is the same individual. Is it another individual that has traversed the North West Passage, or perhaps travelled around the southern tip of South America and across the Atlantic? Unfortunately, we’ll never know the route it followed to get here but keen eyes on the water may tell us where it goes next, so please send your reports to the WBSN if you see this animal.

Gray whales grow up to 14 m in length and undertake the longest known migration of any mammal completing a round trip of over 30,000 km between their summer feeding grounds in the high Arctic and winter breeding area off the coast of Mexico returning to the high Arctic again. The whale seen off Israel had completed the longest known stray by any mammal. Though they are baleen whales gray whales are unique in that they feed off the bottom of the sea floor by sucking up mud, usually through the right side of their mouths, and filter out the bottom mud dwelling amphipods on which they feed. This results in the baleen being shorter in one side of their mouths.
This sighting highlights the chances of seeing amazing animals in Namibia and also how important our marine environment is to sea life. Well done to the marine tour operators for locating this whale and operating in a responsible manner and not scaring the whale off. The Walvis Bay Strandings Network would like to thank the tour operators for passing on all sightings of this whale and particularly Mola Mola Tours for making space on their vessel so that we could confirm the identification and get photographs.






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Luderitz wrap up 2013

June 1, 2013, 2:05 am
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by Simon Elwen:

Our two month field season in Luderitz draws to a close today.  Our last sea day was an !Anichab survey of the central area on Monday-Wednesday.

A good season all round I think, we had:

24 days (166 hours) on Nanuuq in and around Luderitz Bay doing mainly photo-ID, behavioural and habitat surveys, and covering 852km of survey track.

12 days and 6 nights  (185 hours) on the !Anichab surveying 2800 km of dolphin habitat in and around the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA).  No data summaries yet, but a good few dolphins, a few whales and lots of penguins. And albatrosses everywhere!

Remarkably few 'weather days' but some productive office time with data entered, proposals written, papers prepared, submitted or reviewed

Tomorrow we get back on the road with the dog and the baby in tow (the students have already left on a shuttle).  1200km of tar road via Windhoek to Walvis Bay - we're coming for you Mr Gray Whale!!


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Top biology students head out to sea with Manica & the NDP

July 1, 2013, 1:41 pm
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MANICA, the shipping and forwarding company decided to do a little double whammy of local support last week. Not only did they reward 5 top biology students from 5 local high schools with a day out on Sunsail's catamaran, but they also donated R10 000 to the Namibian Dolphin Project!

A big thanks from our side to Nolito and Manica for the donation - it is superbly well timed as it links with the opening of our new environmental office down at the Waterfront. We're going to use this money to kit out the office and get some nice education posters and branding printed up.

The sea day was all we could have asked for - great weather, glassy seas - good Heaviside's dolphins at the Point and Walvis Bay's own gray whale!   A few pics of the very enjoyable day below.

 
CAPT HANS AND HIS PELICAN
HOW MANY BLOWHOLES DOES A WHALE HAVE?

TESS AND SOME LITTLE PEOPLE




GRAY WHALE WATCHING
WHY LOOK AT THE ONLY GRAY WHALE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WHEN THERE'S HOTDOGS!!!? :)



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Gray while still in Walvis Bay

July 1, 2013, 2:00 pm
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The gray whale (which remains the only one known to be in the Southern Hemisphere) - is still in Walvis Bay.

It was first seen on the 04 May 2013 and was most recently photographed by us on 28 June 2013 on our day out with Manica and some top performing local biology students (see below). The whale has been hanging around the Pelican Point area on the west side of the bay (see blue line on map below), where it has been seen by local tour operators on a nearly daily basis. This is an area of known high productivity so it is likely that the animal is feeding here.  Looking at photos taken over the last three months it does look like the animal has fattened up somewhat.

Several humpback whales have already been seen in the bay since late June on their way to breeding grounds further north. No reports yet of fraternising between the species, but perhaps the gray whale will join up with some of them for a journey to new areas.  We'll keep you updated.


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A busy few weeks mid year

July 14, 2013, 5:06 am
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By Tess Gridley.

In between moving into new offices and analysing data, we've had a few days out at sea this month. It's been great weather all week and our first day out we had an awesome humpback whale encounter. The two animals were very relaxed and curious and circled the boat for over 15 minutes while we just sat with the engines off, watched and took photos. We are also collecting skin samples for genetic analysis, and luckily this proved very easy with these two beasties. On the same day we were able to get another humpback genetic sample and also a grey whale sample, which we will compare to an earlier sample to look for isotopic differences and evidence of feeding in the bay.
 VERY CURIOUS WHALE - CRUISED RIGHT PAST THE BOAT, COULDN'T ZOOM OUT ANY FURTHER!


LAZY HUMPBACK, JUST ROLLING ONTO IT'S BACK AND CIRCLING US 

On Monday we were alerted to the presence of a stranded dolphin in the Walvis Bay lagoon, thanks to Callie Geel and Willi Deetlefs. This tuned out to be a pygmy killer whale, another rare sighting for Namibia, and proof that the Walvis Bay strandings network is so very valuable. Simon and Sara kayaked out to the animal and took all the standard measurements and the skull which one day we hope to add to our collection at the new water front office.

 SARA WASHING DOWN THE WHALE SO WE COULD LOOK FOR SCARS & PHOTOGRAPH IT

Later in the week, we were out a sea again, this time working on the bottlenose dolphin population. We were lucky to have an early encounter with a mum-calf group near Independence beach and collected some good data, all before 10 am in the morning. However, by the end of this busy week our luck started to run out,  with no dolphins to be found on Thursday and poor weather on Saturday - Luckily the coffee at the waterfront is good enough to make up for hours of misty weather... :) and we've all got LOADS to do in the office right now, so back to it..
 SOME BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS GUNNING PAST THE HARBOUR WALL. SO SHALLOW, THEY NEARLY HIT THE FLAMINGOS



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First ever sei whale stranding in Namibia

August 15, 2013, 3:26 pm
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A little later, but better than never :

By Sara Golaski

An estimated 15 ton whale, later identified as a sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) was reported to the Namibian Dolphin Project (NDP) on July 19th by local windsurfers. It had beached itself along the speed strip next to the Walvis Bay Lagoon and rested in shallow water.  Before anything could be done by the Walvis Bay Strandings Network, a group of quick thinking kiteboarders and windsurfers had already managed to urged back into deeper waters, where it was lost into the choppy seas. They reported the valuable details to the NDP but were unable to identify the species as whales in this family can be difficult to tell apart. The whale was not found again that day, but was discovered the next morning by marine tour operators who reported that it was swimming in extremely shallow water near the salt works pump station, an area of frequent whale strandings.

The whale re-stranded there, and was afterwards attended by researchers from the Namibian Dolphin Project and volunteers from the Walvis Bay Strandings Network. The animal, very unresponsive though still breathing at this point was identified as an adult sei whale, an elusive offshore species of baleen whale. Sei whales occur in all oceans, but are rarely seen as they do not normally venture inshore. Unfortunately this one was far too large and too shallow for a rescue to be possible, though researchers were able to collect photographs and a skin sample for later analysis. The animal had passed away by the next morning without having moved from where it stranded. Basic measurements of the female sei whale taken at the scene put it at 15 meters long. Its dorsal fin alone was half a meter high and its tail flukes were 3 meters wide.

Although sei whales were historically caught in Namibia and west South Africa by commercial whalers, this is the first record of one stranding on the beach, highlighting the importance of these events for researchers to understand more about these animals. Nothing is known about the current population size or habits of sei whales in Namibia. They live offshore where they are difficult to study, but simultaneously exposed to several potential human threats including phosphate mining and seismic exploration for oil and gas.

A big thank you to Sara Golaski, John Paterson, Sue Roux and Margot Jefferson for getting out to the animal to assess it and collect data. Also to Willi Deetleefs for passing on the info to us on Saturday morning and most of all to Des and Miguel, for reporting the stranding to us in the first place.





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September - busy but boring

September 30, 2013, 2:43 am
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by Simon Elwen

Since our trip to the UK where Tess and I had some very productive meetings with colleagues at St Andrews University, it's been a busy few weeks back home.  Not much exciting happening in the way of strandings or sea days in the last month - pretty much just office work, which is good in its way.

Hannah and Tess and making good progress on their analysis of signature whistles in bottlenose dolphins and are close to a first publication draft. I managed to do some work on our humpback whale paper (that went to the IWC earlier this year, to better prepare it for publication and sent it off to co-authors. Sara is going square eyed from looking at hundreds and hundreds of Heaviside's dorsal fins and still has a long way to go.  Two volunteers from Germany and Holland are going to be joining us this week to help Sara with her data processing - we'll introduce them later.

We've also been trying to do a little more public awareness this month while we could: Tess and Sara gave a talk at the Dolphin School, we've had a few more people popping in our our Environmental Office, I gave a talk at the Gobabeb Open day on Walvis Bay's bottlenose dolphin population and also at the BCC (Benguela Current Commission) conference in Windhoek last week. Both of these talks highlighted some of the conservation concerns that cetaceans are facing here in Namibia.  A lot of other interesting talks at both events!

There is a lot of development happening in the marine environment over the next few years including the phosphate mining (even though there is currently a moratorium on it, it's likely to go ahead at some point), a few seismic surveys planned and the massive harbour expansion project taking place in Walvis Bay. Any construction projects or survey activities which potentially impact on the environment must go through an Environmental Impact Assessment process. This almost always involves at least one public meeting to allow for anyone who is interested to attend and get more information on the projects and air their concerns. We do our best to go to any that are relevant to the marine environment along with colleagues from the Conservation and Environment Trust of Namibia (CETN), but these meetings are often not well attended and we strongly encourage everyone who can to take an interest in their environment and go to the meetings!

A lot of people aren't aware of these meetings, so we're going to try advertise the ones we're aware of either here or on Facebook (Namibian Dolphin Project) and also on the window and chalk board at the office.

 JOHN PATERSON OF THE ALBATROSS TASK FORCE NAMIBIA AT GOBABEB

PETER BRIDGEFORD OF VULTURES NAMIBIA AT GOBABEB
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Sperm whale stranding - Jakkalsputs

November 16, 2013, 7:18 am
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The basics:  
Sperm whale - 16m long - male (based on length) - reported at ~09:00 on 13th Nov 2013 - died ~19:00 on 13th Nov 2013 - cause of death unknown - detailed necropsy not possible due to sea conditions.

On Wednesday the 13th, we had a report from several different people of a live stranded whale up in the Jakkalsputs area (just south of Henties Bay).  The NDP team headed up as fast as we could to assess the situation and see what we could to assist, co-ordinate and collect data.

We arrived to find several people clustered around an adult male sperm whale (which we later measured at 16m long) which was being bashed about by a fairly big surf. Some people had already attempted a rescue before we got there. Not unexpectedly, their attempt was unsuccessful and people had risked their lives and health for what was at best a long shot.  Luckily the EMED team were on hand and no mishaps occurred.  

Although we are very grateful for the support and interest of the community in the welfare of this animal and other cetaceans - we strongly recommend that if you find a stranded whale, dolphin or turtle, you contact someone with experience and training before attempting any rescue. 
PLEASE SEE CONTACT DETAILS AT THE END OF THIS POST


Some important things to bear in mind with stranded whales and dolphins:

- Most of the time, animals strand due to natural causes such as disease, injury or old age (which aren't always obvious) and refloating them isn't likely to prolong their lives anyway.  

- These animals can (and increasingly do) carry diseases that can infect people. People also can transfer diseases to animals.

- Cetaceans are large and extremely strong, even the smallest local animal (the Heaviside's dolphin) weighs about 50-60kg and and adult humpback or right whale weighs 10s of tons. Throw in some heavy seas and big swells and you have a recipe for disaster. Sixty kg's being thrown into you by the force of some pounding swells will knock over at the very least, or a larger animal could very easily roll onto your foot and trap you underneath it. Don't forget that a whale's tail can push it's entire body out of the water when breaching - if it hits a person with that tail while on the beach...

- With respect to the situation of a large animal such as this in big surf - refloated animals often just turn immediately once in the water and swim along shore and then straight back on too land. Bear in mind that these animals have likely never lain on the ground before (and thus experienced gravity as us land mammals do) and this can result in squashed or even crushed internal organs in larger animals (especially their lungs), upset balance and one would image, just general disorientation. Sperm whales are fairly tall and narrow in shape, so tend to lie on their side when stranded, which makes it even harder to move them and probably disorients them even more than other animals. To reduce this disorientation and reduce the risk of restranding, the approach advised by experienced people is to, once back in the water, hold the animal upright at the surface for several minutes up to half an hour to allow it to reorient itself and get its breathing back to normal. Unfortunately, there is no logistical way that a handful of people could get an adult sperm whale 16m long, which weighs in the range of 20-30 TONS and has been lying on it's side on the beach for at least 5 or 6 hours, out through that surf zone and then hold it upright in the water while it gets used to floating again. The best equivalent I can think of is if someone held you upside down by your ankles for 6 hours then turned you upright and told you to immediately run across a busy highway in a straight line, you'd need a little help and time to get used to being upright again.

Great big thanks to everyone who let us know about the animal and helped out with the stranding - especially Martinette Fourie who stayed on until sunset on Wednesday to monitor the whale.


 SPERM WHALE FROM THE FRONT - BLOW HOLE TO THE LEFT, JAW UNDER WATER TO THE RIGHT


 MEASURING THE WHALE IN THE SMALLER SURF ON FRIDAY - EVEN KNOWING ALL THE RISKS, I STILL MANAGED TO GET HIT RATHER HARD BY THE TAIL WHEN A WAVE PUSHED IT INTO MY KNEE!

PARALLEL TOOTH RAKE SCARS ON THE NOSE  - FROM FIGHTS WITH OTHER SPERM WHALES

MEASURING THE TOOTH RAKES ON THE BODY - 13-16 CM APART!

MORE PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK HERE


STRANDINGS NETWORK CONTACT DETAILS:

Simon Elwen - Namibian Dolphin Project:                081 421 4968
Naude Dreyer - Sandwich Harbour Tours:                 081 149 7377
Marinette Fourie - Ocean Adventures:                      081 602 1355

Ministry of Fisheries Swakopmund (NatMIRC):           064 410 1000
                 - Contact Ipeinge Mundjula / Chris Bartholomae / Hannes Holtzhausen

If you're in the south of the country - 
Ministry of Fisheries - Luderitz Marine Research:      063 202 415
Dr Jean Paul Roux                                                  081 308 3949
Heiko Metzger - Zeepard Tours:                               081 604 2805
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Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) stranding near Swakopmund

January 3, 2014, 1:30 am
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By Henri Raaitjies - Sept 2013


Reported on Sunday October 27 by Francois Busch as a possible stranded, the stranding team headed out to inspect the turtle. The animal was at first sight an old individual covered in lots of seaweed growth, but still alive. It didn’t respond much and didn’t appear capable to return to sea on its own strength. The turtle was measured and a skin sample was taken.

The sex of sea turtles can be determined by the tail length. Females have short tails, while male turtles have a larger and more muscular tail, which extends well out the carapace. As can be seen in the photos, we concluded our individual to be female.

After the measurements it was time for action. Actions that were considered include:
-       returning the animal to sea, but he would probably not have enough energy to survive. Rehab is not really an option in Namibia with only the very small Swakopmund aquarium available.
-        ‘least action is least harm’ approach; the animal was right on the edge of the tide line, so close enough to get back into the sea under its own power if if it could. A return the next day to check up on it (and perform a more detailed necropsy if it had died).

The latter option was chosen, and the turtle was left on the beach. Two days later, on Wednesday October 30, the animal had disappeared, leaving the question on its cause of stranding unanswered – we hope it managed to return to the sea under it’s own strength, but it may have died and been washed away.




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Opportunity - Volunteer office manager and admin assistant needed

January 16, 2014, 4:17 am
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We are currently seeking an independent, outgoing and trustworthy volunteer to manage the Namibian Dolphin Project office while the team undertakes fieldwork in Lüderitz . We are seeking someone from March to May, which will include one month working with us in Walvis Bay and 2 months working independently as the responsible office manager. Core working hours are 7:30-1pm.


The role will include: 
* Engaging with the public
* Administration
* Desk top research work on dolphins, for example photo-identification, data organisation
* Production of education and outreach materials relating to marine life
* Fundraising

During April-May you will be expected to represent the Namibian Dolphin Project in Walvis Bay and attend to strandings and public concerns, as and when they arise.

This volunteer position is well suited to someone with an interest in the environment who can work independently. It would suit a post graduate seeking extra work experience or (as the hours are mainly in the morning) a scientist looking for a quite place to gain inspiration while writing papers/grant applications etc. If interested, please contact Dr Tess Gridley on: nam.dolphin.project@gmail.com. For more information about the project please refer to the website:www.namibiandolphinproject.com or blog. 

Additional bonuses:
- Sea view from your desk
- A Ramsar protected wetland on your doorstep means flamingos, pelicans, ruddy turnstones, whimbrels, curlews, chestnut banded plovers etc etc pass the office everyday
- Bottlenose dolphins swim past the office regularly
- A very nice restaurant next door!

Our Office:
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Sharks stranding in the lagoon

January 22, 2014, 7:37 am
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by Tess Gridley

Friday 17th January.  Today we were alerted to the presence of several sharks at the Walvis Bay lagoon early in the morning.  The first call was from Bex Russell, who saw a 1.7 meter bronze whaler shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus) stranded on the mudflats near Millionaire's mile.  The animal was calm and sedate, probably suffering from lack of oxygen and exposure. It was refloated by Simon Elwen of the Namibian Dolphin Project and within a few minutes swam away into deeper water. Just over an hour later, there was a report of another shark stranded in a similar position. This animal was slightly smaller, and again calm and re-floated easily. Within the next hour, 2 more sharks (one more bronze whaler and one smooth hound shark) were found by local residents, all successfully re-floated and we are hopeful that they made it back out into open water.

We are not sure why they stranded, but it most likely due to the warm temperatures and a lack of oxygen in the water associated with the current sulphur bloom. While the sharks we have encountered so far are quite placid, bronze whaler sharks can and do bite and wild animals are unpredictable and potentially dangerous especially when stressed. Therefore we would encourage members of the public to phone the Namibian Dolphin Project on 081 421 4968 or the WB Strandings Network through: 081 602 1355 or 081 149 7377 for further assistance if they encounter any stranded sharks, or other creatures such as whales, dolphins or turtles. 







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The value of historic archives for research

February 7, 2014, 4:27 am
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By Titus Shaanika - University of Namibia 

Newspapers are an invaluable source of information, they keep with them information that many consider useless  over years, but if newspapers are revisited even after decades information in newspapers can be quite useful, with that in mind the Namibian dolphin project decided to go through the Namib times newspaper(largest daily coastal newspaper ) archives at the Walvis bay municipality library, in search of records(pictures, articles and adverts) about dolphins, whales, sharks, turtles and fishing or anything of interest to a marine conservation organization like Namibian dolphin project. Archives under study are from 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1971

 Pilchard fishing was the talk most of the articles during the studied years, the pilchard industry was by the most productive fishery, an article on 21 May 1965 reported that “1964 was the most successful pilchard fishing season ever at Walvis Bay”. 650 000 tons of pilchards were caught off Walvis Bay", a different article on 3rd September 1965 reads “four pilchard factories have completed their quota of 90 000 tons each" there are several other article about the pilchard galore that was off the Namibian coast. On 6 august 1965 a certain Mr. I J Kuen wrote a letter to the Namib sun expressing his worry about the mismanagement of marine resources and the large number of foreign fleet of trawlers in South West African (Namibian) waters. This article shows that there were concerns of the way of marine resources off the Namibian coast were managed and if such a letter was taken serious maybe pilchards fishing would still be productive and profitable off the Namibian coast and we would still be spotting whales, dolphins and turtles frequently off our beautiful coast.

The invasive Jellyfishes that are of serious concern nowadays, started causing problem problems in 1960s, on 3 March 1967 an article titled “tons of jellyfishes caught up in nets with pilchards” reads “one load of 50 tons of fish the night before last had at least 30 tons of jellyfish amongst it”, this delinquent is still causing headaches today. 30 tons is too big a number for something that has little to no economic significance of the Namibian people, jellyfishes are a delicacy in some Asian countries, perhaps construction of jellyfish processing and exporting factories should be looked into, this an opportunity for local businessman and women. 

The recent stranding of sharks due to sulphur bloom in the lagoon is not something new to the bay, a cases far worse than the one on 17 January 2014,occurred on 29 December  1967 were over 10 tons of fish died and where wash up into the lagoon, the 10 tens included Beast such as sharks, skates and soles.

The low number of articles about cetaceans (collective name of whale and dolphins) in the newspapers perhaps might be because their populations have been exhausted by whaling activity already an article on 19 January 1971 about sperm whale being caught off S.W.A coast, reported “… whales are seldom seen in the bay nowadays…”, many article on cetaceans were mostly about sperm whales.

CLICK ON IMAGES BELOW TO SEE LARGER FORMAT

   
 
      

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NDP Open Day - Community support great but corporate backing is still lacking...

March 12, 2014, 7:13 am
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By Tess Gridley:

Last week the Namibian Dolphin held a Fundraiser and Education Day at the Walvis Bay Waterfront.  We had several aims by holding these events - the first was to let people know who we are, what we are doing and where we are based.  We've been based at the Waterfront since July, and where we have a range of education information and material available freely to the public to view - but still most people aren't quite sure who we are or what we get up to.

The second was to invite all schools to an education event to increase awareness of Namibia's marine life. We've been meaning to run a big education event for a while and during the summer months is the best time as our fieldwork commitments are less.

And the last was to raise funds - primarily for Namibian students, office running and general research costs. This final aim is crucial for us. While Simon and I are employed through the University of Pretoria on a contract basis, we have to search hard for funds for the office and students and to conduct the research we think is important. Recently we have had some really great Namibian students approach and work with us (for instance see blog by Titus below). We would love to be in a position to offer these students paid internships or student bursaries, but at the moment we can only offer volunteer positions. This means that most students can't afford to work with us, as they need to find alternative paid work. Our long-term aim is that the project is run by local Namibians and getting these studentships is the first step towards achieving this.

We hoped that through running a fundraiser event we could inspire local businesses to support marine conservation and thereby secure some financial backing for the students, the environmental office, research or all three. Currently this has not come through and the search continues. On the up side though – the fundraising evening we held was fantastic. It was a sit down meal for 50 people, with music and games to boot – and was a lot of fun! We had support from NACOMA, Maersk and Nedbank – who all booked large tables and enjoyed the evening.

 BUYING RAFFLE TICKETS

  FULL HOUSE ENJOYING DINNER

The Education Day on the Saturday was also a great success – over 150 children attended the event and there was a real buzz at the Waterfront. We had 10 stations set up - so children could learn about sounds in the sea, sharks, seabird conservation, ‘tools of the trade’ and see our collection of marine mammal skulls.  For the younger kids we also had face painting, arts and crafts and pelican viewing. All the volunteers that helped out on the day were wonderful and all the kids seemed to love the day. In fact, more than 70 ended their day with a trip to sea with Laramon tours, where they got to do some wildlife viewing - for those children who had never been to sea before this was a real treat.
So what did we learn from our busy weekend  - well mostly that the community in Walvis Bay really cares about the marine environment and wants to know more - but that we are going to have to work a little harder and shout a little louder if we want local businesses (particularly those that use the marine realm - Manica, Maersk, de Beers, the fishing companies etc, this means you!) to take note and support local conservation efforts… and on that note I'll get back to writing yet another funding application :-)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped out with the day, the event and with prizes:

Volunteer Support: Bex Russel, Margot Jefferson, Bridget, Sara, Marie, Justus, Cecelia, Tobias and Titus, the Albatross Task Force (Sarah Yates) and CETN (Peter Bridgeford & Sue Roux).

Venue supplied by Anchors Restaurant, Lindi Dreyer and Marti Behr

Printing costs supported by Printworx Swakopmund& the NACOMA project. Petra at PAKO MAgazine helped out designing some of the info sheets.  Mega-Stationers, Waltons and Herco all supplied some materials for the day.

Raffle Prizes by: AfriCat & Okonjima Lodge, Sun Sail Cruises, Levo Tours, Lyon Des Sables, Lemon Tree Deli, Mussel Cracker, Art Africa, Harbour’s End, Namib Offroad, Harbours End

Boat trips on the day by Laramon Tours

Ocean Adventures helped courier some of the kids to the event with their busses and Catamaran Charters provided a prize for the winning essay.
 BEX DOING A GREAT JOB COORDINATING KIDS

 THE MAYOR OF WALVIS BAY CAME TO HAVE A LOOK TOO

 TITUS SHOWING EVERYONE ABOUT HOW TO MATCH DOLPHINS

 BRIDGET TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT SHARK CONSERVATION







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Luderitz field season 2014

May 10, 2014, 12:36 pm
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by Simon Elwen

We're just over halfway through our Luderitz Field Season for this year. Always good to spend some time down here, even if it's quite a challenge getting 5 people, 1 dog, a baby, a boat and a car full of equipment all the way here in one piece. It's only 400 km in a straight line from Walvis to Luderitz, but we can't tow the boat over the dirt roads and have to take the ~1200 km tar road via Windhoek.

Unfortunately, this year my car didn't make it and just north of Keetmanshoop the cylinder head blew leaving me, the boat and the dog stranded!  Quite a mission getting everything the last 500km to Luderitz but we managed to do it and my car has been left in Keetmans awaiting a new engine ($$$ !!!).  Working without a car is a major challenge when you need to cart lots of equipment around town, launch and refuel boats etc etc. So my first priority at the beginning of April was to find a car to use.  Lots of phone calls and emails later and M&Z Motors came to our rescue by lending us a double cab Triton for the field season!  An absolute life saver and a HUGE thanks from all of us for the help while we await a new engine being delivered for my car.  Here are some pics of the Triton helping us load the boat down at the slip way:




The marine wildlife around Luderitz is fantastic and strikingly different to what we see up in Walvis Bay, despite being only 400km to the south.  There are several reasons for this, including the strength of the upwelling which happens down here creating a very rich and dynamic ocean and also that the continental shelf is much closer to shore here (about 30-40 km compared to over 100km in Walvis), so we tend to get more 'offshore' species here including large whales.  

We were lucky enough to have a group of fin whales (Balaeoptera physalus - the second largest species of animal in the world!) hanging around for a few weeks. We only encountered two of them twice from the small boat just off Luderitz but saw an even bigger group of 6 animals about a week after that during our first ship survey of the Marine Protected Area.  This is the time I've ever seen a fin whale and the first time anyone is aware of, of a sighting of this species close to shore in Namibia!  So a great sighting for all of us. No idea why they have been hanging around so close to shore, but very happy that they were.




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Heaviside's dolphins - the little dolphin in Africa

May 24, 2014, 4:49 am
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Keeping blogs up to date is hard work!  So today I'm going to take a short cut and link you to a video about the dolphins we're working on here in Luderitz and Walvis Bay.  Heaviside's dolphins are the smallest dolphin in Africa and endemic to (i.e. found only in) the Benguela ecosystem on the west coast of Southern Africa.

Most people have never heard of them, let alone seen them - despite the fact that they are easily seen from shore right off the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town (which is about the southern limit of their range)!   So last year we were quite chuffed to get a little exposure for the dolphins and our project when it was featured on 50/50 - South Africa's leading conservation news television programme.

Videographer Zach Vincent spent a few days with us here in Luderitz last year and got some great footage of the animals which he combined with some footage shot with colleagues working on the animals in Cape Town

Check out the video here:



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A wrap-up of two busy months in Luderitz 2014

June 10, 2014, 1:19 am
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By Sara Golaski - MSc student.

We’ve just finished up another busy couple months of fieldwork in Lüderitz, with lots of time on the water, and a few more interesting sightings!

During this year’s two-months in Lüderitz, we did 16 photo-id surveys (a total of 93 hours on the water) covering 868 kilometers. In total, we took 8595 ID photos!  The information from these surveys is being used to look at abundance, population trends and habitat use of Heaviside’s dolphins. We also did three multi-day ship surveys, a continuation of our work looking at cetacean distribution within the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area. We covered a total of 2176 kilometersin our 171 hours on these surveys and had 58 cetacean sightings from the ship.

INSHORE SURVEY EFFORTS FROM OUR RIB NANUUQ
OFFSHORE SURVEY EFFORT FROM THE RV !ANICHAB

We also had five acoustic loggers in the water listening for dolphin clicks throughout the field season (see top map). This data will be used to examine temporal patters in fine-scale movements of Heaviside’s dolphins around Lüderitz. This is important to ground-truth our survey data for defining dolphin habitat because we aren’t out late in the day or at night.  

Fieldwork in Lüderitz is always exciting, because there are so many opportunities for Heaviside’s encounters and we really never know exactly what we’re going to find. Interesting sightings from this year include the southernmost sighting to date of the inshore bottlenose dolphins from Walvis Bay and the first sighting of fin whales inshore in Namibian waters! We also had 5 humpback whale sightings, including a feeding pair and a surface-active mom/calf pair. Humpbacks are usually seen migrating through between June and November, so these sightings are important for highlighting “out of season” use of this area. We even had a very rare sighting of southern right whale dolphins in the distance from the ship!

When we aren’t at sea we keep ourselves busy with office work too. Other accomplishments this field season include 1 paper submitted, 1 back from review and being corrected, 3 finished and with co-authors for comment.

A great big thank you to Jean-Paul Roux and Kolette Grobler at the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and M&Z Motors for their support in making our field season possible.




RELEASING A STORM PETREL WHICH CRASHED INTO THE SHIP THE PREVIOUS EVENING


HEAVISIDE'S DOLPHIN CHECKING US OUT

AT SEA IN BOAT BAY ABOUT 25 KM NORTH OF LUDERITZ

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