firmm España

Long-finned Pilot whale project.
Area of research is the Straits of Gibraltar (5° 25’ W – 5° 50’ W).

Aims:

population abundance
family structures
migration behaviours

Methods:

observations on boat
capture-recapture
photo-identification

The major technical method to work is to take records by photo-identification. Every whale can be identified by it's dorsal fin (similar to the fingerprint of humans). By this we are able to recognize different individuals by taking photos of the fins.
By this method we already can say that there have been more than fifty different whales here in the Straits. Further we can identify specific animals by their fins several times throughout the year and their different behaviours while feeding or socializing.

Here are three shots taken on different dates showing three individuals. We named them Nicki, Monk and Felipe. They allowed us a deep view into the biology of the Pilot whales here in the Straits.

Dolphin population.
We are very glad to be able to report that the populations of the observed species seem to be in very good conditions.

The species inhabiting the Straits most of the time are:

Calderón común Globicephala melas,

Delfín mular Tursiops truncatus,

Delfín listado Stenella coeruleoalba and

Delfín común Delphinus delphis.

We do believe that in all species the individuals belong to different populations which are partly resident in the Straits. The rest of them are nomads which leave the area during a certain period of time.
To understand why and which animals stay or leave, it will take a few years of thorough investigation.

The results of sighting.
In 96,7% of the trips we were able to see at least one of the above mentioned species. We started to investigate more thoroughly on different aspects of Calderón común (because of the availability of these animals throughout the whole year), their complex social structure and their quicker or slower swimming speed. These aspects allow us to better understand these animals.
All in all we spent 205.87 hours on the water with a total sighting number of 1,273 Calderones. We've been able to distinguish 3 major behaviours: 235 of them were socializing, 274 travelling and 418 foraging. At the same time we took photos of every available animal, in order to compare them with sightings of other trips and with other organizations working on the same species.

Besides of all the work we were happy to be able to help on 30th July to rescue the little whale we called Isidro which got lost due to tough weather to the Playa Chica. In cooperation with C.R.E.M.A., Tarifa Trafico, the Ayuntamiento de Tarifa, the crew of the Salvamiento Maritimo vessel, Guardia Civíl and WWE we transported the calf on our research boat 'Beluga' back to the open sea. Finally we located three of his elder co-species and we were able to release him safely into his natural environment. We have strong evidences that we saw the calf again on 31st August alive and very curious towards the boat which took part into his rescue. He was then seen again in company of the three adult individuals.

firmm España
Pedro Cortés 3
11380 Tarifa, Spain
tel: +34 956 627008
fax: +34 965 681424
firmm98@aol.com

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cry.au (60kb)
long_cry.au (133kb)
call.au (117kb)
haunt_cry.au (84kb.)
whistle.au (100kb)
trumpet.au (81kb)
whale1.mpg (573kb)
whale2.mpg (870kb)

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