Great Sightings in April...

April is traditionally a quiet month for cetacean sightings off West Cork as we wait for thr waters to warm and the plankton to bloom and rise in the water column...

This April however, has proved the exception. Although the waters off West Cork remain cold sightings that have been reported by us and others this month have included killer whales, pilot whales, first minke whales of the season, bottlenose dolphins, harbour porpoise and basking sharks.

This lovely spectrum of species has culminated in basking sharks off The Kedges last weekend and bottlenose dolphins feeding in Squince Harbour yesterday morning and excellent harbour porpoise activity between Sherkin Island and Cape Clear.

Other fantastic and early sightings have been had to feeding gannets, Manx shearwaters, fulmars, razorbills and both species of guillemot. Lovely wildlife activity for so early in the season supported by some fabulous sunny and fine weather West Cork has yet again proved a mecca for the marine wildlife enthusiast from both Ireland and Europe.

Hopefully this early flush of activity is a harbinger of things to come. We look forward to a fine summer, warm seas, a wide variety of species. With Voyager operating since the beginning of April we are all looking forward to a great season...can't wait.

ENDS

Sea Shepherd is a Fundamentalist Darwinist Anti-God Organization?

Sea Shepherd and Captain Paul Watson are no strangers to controversy and the fall out from the apalling act of irresponsibility conducted by the Japanese whaling fleet when they deliberately rammed and sunk the anti whaling Sea Shepherd boat, Ady Gill, continues...

The latest bout of misleading, poorly written commentary to be published over The Christian Newswire, an organisation claiming to be the most respected organisation of its type, opens the article...

"...Last week's clash between the Japanese whaling ship, the 'Shonan Maru' and the 'Ady Gil', a vessel owned and manned by the eco-terrorist group Sea Shepherd, highlights an animal rights battle that was launched when Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835 -- a theme explored in detail on a featurette of 'The Mysterious Islands', a newly-released documentary that debunks the conclusions Darwin reached during his famous voyage of the Beagle. The featurette -- entitled 'The Galapagos Whaling Controversy: A Christian Perspective' -- takes environmental groups such as Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, and PETA head on, and shows how their anti-hunting and worshipful view of animals flows directly from Darwin's theory of evolution..."

This nonsensical claptrap continues throughout the piece...

True to form Paul Watson counters some of the comments made in the article with his characteristic firebrand style of clear thinking mixed with humour...the following is just one of his comments...

"...It turns out you see that the only reason we [Sea Shepherd] are down here in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary protecting whales is because we are fundamentalist extremist disciples of Charles Darwin. Yes sir, Charles Darwin is to blame for this mess because he started people down the road of thinking for themselves, instead of blindly following the dictates and guidance of a silly over-rated book written by a gang of chauvinistic sheep herding thugs in the desert a few thousand years ago..."

The whole debate may be read here

The Christian Newswire article may be read here

ENDS

Humpback Whales off Wexford Coast...

During the closing stages of last week we received reports of Humpback Whale sightings off the Wexford coast...

...since that time confirmed sightings have been made by observers of a number of Humpback Whales off the County Wexford coast indulging in what is a fairly common behavioural activity for this species - launching themselves high out of the water in spectacular breaches, returning to the water with an enormous splash.

Both in 2009 and in 2004 when we had significant numbers of Humpbacks off the southwest coast, we encountered breaching animals. The charismatic Humpback Whales is one of only two species of baleen whales in Irish waters which may be encountered regularly breaching, the other being the much smaller Minke Whale.

One of the many questions we have fielded during the last two days has been "where have these animals come from and where are they going". Whilst the migratory patterns of Humpback Whales in the eastern Atlantic remain the subject of much conjecture some information is well documented...

The migratory patterns of large baleen whales in the northern hemisphere cover lesser distances than those same species in the southern hemisphere. However, the Humpback Whale may be the one exception to that rule. Well studied, large Humpback Whale populations off the eastern seaboard of the United States, demonstrate migrations that see individuals travelling from Greenland to the Dominican Republic every year to calve and mate, returning to northern climes to feed in the nutrient rich waters off Greenland and the Denmark Straight.

Humpback populations in the eastern Atlantic are much smaller and are believed to travel between Icelandic and Norwegian waters and Greenland and traditional breeding grounds around The Cape Verde Islands, off the west African coast. The number of animals observed at any one time around the Cape Verde Islands however, number far less than the estimated total population of Humpbacks in north eastern Atlantic waters leading some observers to believe that some members of this population travelled across the Atlantic diagonally to the waters around the Dominican Republic. This is supported by the finding that an individual first identified in the Denmark Straight was identified nearly 18 years later in the waters of the Cape Verde Islands suggesting some "diagonal" west - east migration does occur. It is reasonable to assume that east - west "diagonal" movement occurs as well.

Given that concentrated Humpback activity is not a year round phenomenon off any part of the Irish coastline it is reasonable to assume that these individuals off Wexford are part of a general north - south migratory movement of Humpback Whales that occurs during the winter months opportunistically feeding on seasonal Herring spawning aggregations that occur of the southeast corner of Ireland during the winter months.

To be sure we would need clear photo identification showing animals off Wexford were the same individuals seen in both north east Atlantic waters and around the Cape Verde Islands. So far that type of conclusive evidence is not available.

ENDS