SOTW leaves the Mediterranean, bound for the USA

With Song of the Whale now en route to the next major research project off the east coast of the USA, the team are beginning analysis of the data amassed over the summer. Between 28^th May and 29^th September 2018, the team completed 21,829 km of survey effort as part of the ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative, in both the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean.

Nine species of cetacean were seen from Song of the Whale; fin whale, sperm whale, Cuvier’s beaked whale, long-finned pilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin and striped dolphin, in addition to several species of fish, sharks and turtles. Sightings of marine debris were also logged; of the 2489 items seen, over 86 % were plastic. In addition, twenty-two manta trawl tows collected over 2000 small particles of plastic debris. There is growing concern over the effects of this anthropogenic debris on all levels of the marine food web, not least the marine mammals who are typically the apex predators.

The visual surveys make up a small part of our work; we also used hydrophones to detect cetaceans when our observers are not able to work (i.e. at night or during periods of rough weather). Although the detailed analysis of the acoustic data is ongoing, we had numerous detections of deep-diving species, including sperm whales and beaked whales, species that are often not seen by observers. Cuvier’s beaked whales, for example, have been clocked making dives of over two hours, spending most of their lives hidden from view during their long dives.

Particularly memorable and exciting encounters during the summer included the first sighting of a Cuvier’s beaked whale in Moroccan waters, a very inquisitive fin whale circling the boat off Sardinia, an unusual encounter with rough-toothed dolphins off Greece, the second sighting of a sperm whale off Libya (the first having been made by our team back in 2007). These encounters all provide important new information on the distribution of cetacean species in the Mediterranean.

For many of the participants on board, it was their first time of seeing a number of these species; indeed an important aspect of the ASI project is capacity building and the training of local scientists.  During the project, the Song of the Whale team were fortunate enough to be joined by 30 participants representing 10 different Mediterranean countries. We hope that many of our participants will continue the efforts underway to help protect and conserve the diverse species and habitats of the Mediterranean Sea.

Summary maps and stats from the ASI aerial and vessel surveys are available here http://www.accobams.org/main-activites/accobams-survey-initiative/asi-preliminary-results/