The NDP goes to Cape Town for the AMMC

By Sara Golaski:


At the end of May, we traveled to Kleinbaai, South Africa for the second African Marine Mammal Colloquium. This was my first ever trip to Africa and I only I had been an intern for just under a month at this point.  I was so excited to learn more about research beyond just what we were working on in Namibia.  On the way, we stopped at the Fish River Canyon and camped at Ai Ais National Park so the trip was an amazing opportunity to see more of the beautiful Namibian countryside. It was also my first chance to see many of the region’s animals that I had never seen before. Once in South Africa, the landscape was colder and lusher than the Namibian desert, but was just as gorgeous. As we got nearer to Kleinbaai, I could tell by the signs around town that we were entering an area known for its whales. Sure enough, we stopped along the coast to sightsee a few times upon spotting whale blows amid the stunning scenery. 

OUR COLLEAGUES, MEREDITH THORNTON & PETER BEST OF THE MRI WORKING ON THE BRYDE'S WHALE 

The conference was lovely and small, and I learned a lot. I was a little nervous about being at such a small conference and being just an intern, but everyone was friendly and welcoming, and I was certainly not the only one from far away. It was nice to chat with people about the work they were doing in other places, and about what we were working on with the Namibian Dolphin Project. During the conference, there were talks throughout the morning, but in the afternoons, there were other things to do as well. One afternoon, at the end of a strandings workshop, they announced that there was a recently stranded Bryde’s whale calf. We went to take measurements and then did a full necropsy the next day. 

A BOAT FULL OF AMMC 'MAMMAL PEOPLE' DELEGATES HEADING OUT TO SEE SOME WHITE SHARKS, THANKS TO MARINE DYNAMICS FOR THE DAY OUT

On the last day of the conference, we got to go out on a boat to see the white sharks that Kleinbaai is famous for and that evening, we had a drumming workshop. Everyone at the conference either learned to drum or showed off their skills, before enjoying a braai. On the way back from Kleinbaai, we stopped for a few days in Cape Town, and I had time to explore one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. In all, it was a wonderful trip and I’m very grateful that I had the chance to go.

NIMPA Surveys IV

by Tess Gridley:

The !Anichab had some gearbox problems a few weeks ago (before we left for Cape Town) and unfortunately it's still not fixed..

So while she's out of action, we’ve had a few weeks to process data and produce some preliminary results from the initial NIMPA surveys. It's great to see the data taking shape.  Over 13 days and 5 nights out on the seas, we’ve had almost 200 sightings, of which the majority are dusky and Heaviside’s dolphins, as well as plenty of African penguins! On the more unusual list, we’ve had several out of season humpback whales spotted, along with minke whale and sei whales.  The hydrophone has been doing us well, with 36% more dolphin detections made possible by surveying at night and 12% from surveying in poor weather. Considering that we try not to go out in poor weather, this is pretty good going.  


This is a long term project, so we’re hoping over time that the maps will build up and we will get a good idea of where animals are, how many there are and seasonal differences in distribution.  I’m also interested in using the recordings to look at dolphin communication so we are now carefully analysing the files in details finding dusky dolphin burst pulses and whistles (so far only a handful) which may be used in communication or feeding  contexts... As always, watch this space for updates on our findings!

Right whales!

We had a lovely warm east wind afternoon on Monday with almost no swell - perfect for surveying long distances on an exposed coastline.  So we headed up northwards, following the course taken by the bottlenose dolphin groups we've encountered twice already and hugging the coastline as far as Boat Bay, about 30km north of Luderitz town.  No bottlenose dolphins, but more Heaviside's dolphins than we were expecting, and a great sighting of a solitary southern right whale, right up against the dunes!

   The ID photos we took will go towards the Namibian catalogue managed by Jean-Paul Roux. This catalogue was recently matched to the South African one and showed a lot of matches (as one might expect), which means that animals seen here and in SA are all part of one big and growing population.  We ended at Boat Bay, which I've never visited before. A really beautiful spot where massive sand dunes come right down to the sea. Impossible to do it justice with a camera!

Fun in the sun in Luderitz

By Shannon Hampton - UCT PhD student current helping us out in Luderitz.

I have been in Lüderitz, the land of endlessly blue skies, for 10 days today. It is turning out to be an experience quite unlike any other I have had. After a ridiculously early flight from Cape Town to Windhoek and then on to Lüderitz I stepped off the plane and into the startlingly bright sunlight of Namibia. Sara, an intern from the USA and I were met by Dr Tess and driven into the town that we will call home for the next two months. Tess even organised a black backed jackal sighting en route! J

The very next day we were off to sea on the RV !Anichab for an overnight survey. I boarded the boat with some trepidation, it is smaller than the research vessel I am used to, and that defeated me in bad weather. The blue skies and sunshine distracted me a little from feeling apprehensive about sea sickness, while we searched the ocean for dolphin, whale and penguin sightings. We were rewarded by seeing all three, although I struggled to identify what had made the far-off splashes there were dusky and Heaviside’s dolphins and a whale of some sort (possibly a minke whale). Although we weren’t counting them, we also saw plenty of seals, albatross, skuas and petrels. It was sometimes difficult to tear my eyes away from a soaring albatross to scan the ocean for dolphins.

Despite being absolutely freezing, it was great to be outside on deck and, when the sun was shining and I was on a break, to curl up in a warm spot on the deck. Tess and Simon were sympathetic of my weak sea legs and let us get some sleep while they stayed up through the night to keep everything going. We were all up to welcome in a gorgeous dawn near Mercury Island. It is a rock of penguins, Bank cormorants and gannets. It is gorgeous!

The excitement didn’t end when we got back to Lüderitz. This was the first time I had been involved in the photo identification of dolphins, and I can’t imagine how they manage to get such clear photos of the dorsal fins from animals that are moving so fast and appear to be everywhere at once. On that note, it is pretty amazing to be where there are dolphins everywhere at once. We had a special guest in our team this week, the photographer, Thomas Preschak, is in town and he joined us on some small boat surveys. I have admired his previous work and it was fantastic to get to meet him and to see a professional photographer in action. It was also nice to have someone agree with me that sardines are pretty amazing. I haven’t managed to convince the dolphinologists of this… yet.

Everyday seems to bring new experiences and challenges (by the end of the two months I am sure that I will be able to get off that boat with grace and ease and carry 20L of petrol without my arms burning) but for the day we had yesterday will be hard to top. We were at sea before dawn, there was barely any wind and the sun was just peaking over the sand dunes. Almost immediately we came across a huge group of dusky dolphins. Unfortunately, they seemed to be the only animals active on a morning where everything was in a lazy calm. We even came right up to a black-browed albatross and it didn’t trouble to itself to move away. Even the wind was too lazy to blow in the afternoon so we were able to head out again in the afternoon. In theory this trip was to put hydrophones in the water, but before we could do that we came across bottlenose dolphins. There were a group of about 20 individuals, including the most adorable and tiny calves. We followed them into the sunset and only the fading light made us turn away. Obviously, we were doing important scientific research on their behaviour and not just enjoying the magical evening at sea. It is hard to imagine what else can happen to top that, but I am willing to wait and see.

A great post from Victor "Quisher" Mukena, a Namibian Polytech student who's currently interning with us in Luderitz.  We hope Victor can come back and join us for his 4th year project when he gets there!

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Being with the Namibian Dolphin project (NDP) for a month has been a great adventure and experience. I have had the chance to observe and see the amazing creatures found on our coastal water including dolphins, penguins, whales, many birds and most important some of our off-shore islands, which not all Namibian have had a chance to get close to and see. I have had a great learning experience, getting a chance to set my eyes on Mercury, Halifax and Possession Island. As a student, was taught about these important islands as important safe homes and breeding ground to hundreds of marine birds. It was a great feeling when we visited Mercury Island, a very small island with no vegetation, decorated with hundreds of penguins, gannets and cormorants breeding there, this I got first hand experience, which was joyful. During my internship, I have acquired knowledge on Dusky and Heaviside dolphins, right and minke whales which I all saw in Luderitz.  

Trusting me with operating and working with your delicate equipments like camera to take pictures for dolphin identification, and granting me with the opportunity to drive the boat, is a sign of you generosity and desire to get everybody to feel welcome as part of the team. I wish I could have known about NDP while still doing research projects, as I could have studied a lot as far as marine life is concerned. I never know what life holds for me, my greatest wish is to do a project with NDP at some point during my study period as I believe the two project leaders (Dr. Gridley and Dr. Elwen) have a lot to offer.

Aerial Survey of the Namibian coast

by Ruth Leeney:
from:

The aim of this mission was to fly the entire Namibian coastline over two days, in order to provide a snapshot of the whales, dolphins and other large marine species using Namibia’s coastal waters. We flew along a line parallel to the coast, approximately 150-200 m from the surf zone. On the first day, the sea conditions were reasonably calm and the mist had cleared as we flew towards the town of Walvis Bay and turned northwards. We covered the entire coastline from Walvis Bay to the Kunene River mouth, stopping at Palmweg to refuel. By the end of the day we had recorded 64 sightings of Heaviside’s dolphins, one ocean sunfish and one bottlenose dolphin.

The following day, we set out to cover the southern part of the coast. As we flew over the salt pans and the Walvis Bay lagoon, flamingos flying far below us, the sea ahead was calm and turquoise. This section of the coast was covered in a previous survey, also supported by the Bataleurs, flown in November 2010, where we gained the first insight into the large numbers of Heaviside’s dolphins found south of Walvis Bay. We again sighted an abundance of these small dolphins, found only in the Benguela ecosystem, during our recent survey, with an apparent hotspot just south of Sandwich Harbour. The waters south of Lüderitz proved surprising, not for any of the focal species such as dolphins but for another ocean giant – Mola mola, the ocean sunfish. This is the heaviest bony fish in the sea (sharks can weigh more, but they are cartilaginous fish), with the heaviest individual on record as weighing 2235 kg! Their Latin name ‘mola’ means millstone, and refers to their round shape. In total we sighted 25 sunfish, and no doubt there were many more further offshore. Along the southern section of coast we had 69 sighting events; as well as the sunfish we saw 88 Heaviside’s dolphins and one bottlenose dolphin.

The data collected provide a unique and novel picture of nearshore marine vertebrate distribution, and especially provide insight into the way in which Heaviside’s dolphins use almost the entire Namibian coastline. A more complete picture of Namibia’s coastal marine life allows managers and conservators to better predict the effects of human activities on our unique and vulnerable marine life. The results of these aerial surveys, along with ongoing research by the NDP in the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Areas, thus forms the first step towards a more comprehensive picture of the key marine species present and important areas for them in Namibian waters.

Many thanks to our pilot Nico Louw, volunteer observers Naude Dreyer and Francois du Toit, and photographer Karl Terblanche. These surveys were supported by the Bataleurs (www.bataleurs.co.za) and the Rufford Small Grants Foundation.

NIMPA Surveys III

by Luis Goncalves.  Luis is a Portuguese MMO (marine mammal observer) who has been working in Angola on some of the seismic ships up there. He decided to come join our team for a month and help us observer marine mammals in Namibia. You've got to love people who take a break from whale watching to come watch whales :)


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The next few lines tell my experience while volunteering with the Namibian Dolphin Project.

Going there was something that was in my head for a few years now. More or less the same amount of time that I’ve been following the project and the things that they’ve been doing through their blog. I always found Namibia a very interesting country to visit and joining that with the opportunity of doing some work with marine mammals was the perfect combination.

The two project head persons (Simon and Tess) are both very nice and they make every effort possible to put you at ease and to let you try a little bit of everything from what composes their work and research. During my time with them we were based in a small coastal town in the South of Namibia called Luderitz.  The main goal there was to investigate the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of whales and dolphins within the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA) using both visual and acoustic surveys. Most of the NIMPA region is full of wildlife, especially the islands them selves so, needless to say that, it was a complete joy every time that we went out to sea! On top of this, I had the chance to share very nice thoughts and conversations about Biology and life in general with the rest of the team members and helpers.

To conclude, if anyone is thinking in going there to give them a hand, don’t even dare to think twice. Just go! You will not regret it. Luis

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Mainly what we've seen is dusky dolphins - you hardly ever see them up in Walvis Bay so it's been great to see so many of the guys down this way.  Some pics below as well as "Bertie" - a minke whale that was semi resident in Luderitz Bay for a few months, but seems to have moved on now.