It’s exciting to hear reports of a whale and calf off Frankston today and dolphins in the Yarra River over the last couple of days. We are so lucky!
Luck is not enough to protect them if the sightings aren’t recorded in the right way.
Otherwise, the next time a mum and calf whale are off Frankston or a dolphin is in the Yarra and someone asks, is that normal — we won’t have the foggiest idea.
We are all part of the solution though — and can help by becoming “citizen scientists” and log sightings of whales and dolphins with the Two Bays Whale Project on the Dolphin Research Institute’s website. www.dolphinresearch.org.au
Citizen science is a fantastic way that we can all become involved to support research and long-term conservation. The difference with this program is that sightings are validated to ensure the credibility of the program and usefulness of the data. Your details are not shared, but data is provided to wildlife managers to impact decision making.
In the past months our citizen scientists have helped in the emergency response to reports of whale entanglements and also helped to ID the 50th individual humpback whale in our waters. DRI’s Spring Newsletter tells these stories. You can read about it HERE.
https://www.dolphinresearch.org.au/support-us/dri-appeal/
Support Spring Appeal
#dolphinresearchinstitute #citizenscience #caringforourbays #portphillip
