13/02/2007: The Elsa is ready for the new season, after working hard on its tuning….as you can notice from the pictures!!! We have been cleaning, sanding, varnishing, painting…and all other tasks. Thank you very much to Juan, the poor volunteer that helped us with such arduous task, to the tireless Ruty and Sandra, and to Vasso, the surprise visit which we made work hard as well.
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January 2007
29/01/2007: Just got back from Punta García, in Algeciras, beach in which the refrigerator ship Sierra Nava run aground yesterday morning due to the strong easterly winds. The ship was anchored in the Bay of Algeciras. At least one of the fuel tanks was affected, as we saw plenty of fuel staining all the surrounding area. We shall wait and see the effects this serious accident might have in the resident cetacean populations of the area.
25/01/2007: CIRCE is looking for volunteers from the 24th of January to the 25th of February, to help us in our research projects. The aims of the different projects taking place at the moment are to study the socioeconomic impact of the whale-watching activity in Andalucia, the seabird population inhabiting the Gulf of Cadiz and the resident cetacean populations of the Strait of Gibraltar. The volunteers will participate in the field and laboratory activities of the project. The main tasks will involve:
- Conduct boat-based surveys.
- Collect data on cetacean sightings, seabird sightings and weather conditions.
- Data entry for cetacean sightings.
- Assist with photo-ID work and analysis
No specific qualities are required, just a willing hand and a keen interest so that everyone has an enjoyable and convivial experience. Preference will be given to those who have driving license. There is no compensation for this volunteer position and the successful applicants will be responsible for their food expenses during the time of the volunteering. The volunteers can stay in CIRCE’s centre in Pelayo (Algeciras).
To apply contact us by email at
or 
and
include a copy of your CV detailing your background and relevant experience
together.
November 2006
15/11/2006: CIRCE’s website is finally updated after two long years without a lot of news. We have been quite busy lately. Good news for all the people wishing to discover and participate to our work, we will welcome research assistant from May until September 2007. For more information click here. The bottlenose dolphin catalogue is now online, you can visit it here. Our last publications are available in pdf here. The photo gallery has been updated with the best picture of these last two years (more than 150 new pictures). The description of the people working in CIRCE can be seen here.
13/11/2006: The weather conditions are not too good for the moment. We are taking advantage of 2-3 days of calm days to go out at sea. On a day with flat sea, as it is rarely the case in the Strait, we have identified around 20 pilot whale subgroups, totalising more than 160 different individuals identified. It is not too bad considering that we have a population made of around 260 individuals. On another day we identified more than 200 bottlenose dolphins of the 300 individuals in the population. These days are very important for the monitoring of the populations as we can make sure that the animals are still present and continue to live in apparently decent conditions that allow them to feed and reproduce.
Head of a pilot whale on the left and jump of a bottlenose dolphin on the right
October 2006
September 2006
30/09/2006: Back around Barbate, we found a group of common dolphins feeding with many calves. Once again, marine birds like gannets, puffins and petrels joined the party.
A mother and her calf common
dolphin and a juvenile gannet
29/09/2006: Before going back to the Gulf of Cadiz, we are passing by the Strait to monitor the newborns of the summer. We observed how fast the pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins grow up. It also allowed us to see how many newborns survived. Although we have high survival rate for the adult population, we still have not studied survival rates of the younger individuals of the population. The latter can give us a better idea of the population trend because if we observe that almost all the newborns die within a few months it means that something wrong is happening. However, it is normal to observe a higher mortality rate for younger individuals than for adults. So far, it seems that most of the newborns have survived and are growing well.
23/09/2006: We take advantage of this survey to go where we usually do not go. There is an area on the West of the Strait that we wanted to study. We did not think that we would find many cetaceans but still we saw a large group of common dolphins (more than a hundred individuals) feeding in that area. Many species of marine birds were making the most of the situation to feed on the leftovers.
22/09/2006: End of September, we are going back on survey to the Gulf of Cadiz with the aim of making 5 photo-identification sessions of bottlenose dolphins. That will allow us to make population estimation and to continue with the monitoring of that population that moves in the entire Gulf of Cadiz. To accompany us from Tarifa to Barbate, we had the luck of spotting a fin whale right at the entrance of the harbour and that was going to the Atlantic. It was a medium size whale (around 15m) and unfortunately it had a wound on the caudal fin. It seemed that it was annoying it to swim because it was not going at the usual swimming speed of the fin whales crossing the Strait. It even ended up going at 2 knots against 3 knots current. We left it South of Barbate after more than 5 hours of tracking on a straight line going west.
Fin whale migrating to the Atlantic. Scar on the
base of the caudal fin
17/09/2006: In September, the bottlenose dolphins complete that “baby boom” year with the birth of many babies. After the preliminary results of the biopsies made on bottlenose dolphins of the Gulf of Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar, we had an answer to “why are there so many calves and juveniles in the Gulf of Cadiz while we almost never observe any juveniles in the Strait of Gibraltar?”. We have already identified these two populations as different because we have never observed individuals of the Strait in the Gulf and vice versa. The sex analyses of the bottlenose dolphins showed that the Strait population would be made of mainly of males while the one of the Gulf of Cadiz would be made of mainly of females. It is therefore normal to observe more calves in the Gulf of Cadiz.
Newborns bottlenose dolphins in the Strait of
Gibraltar
August 2006
July 2006
29/07/2006: The pilot whales are still giving births and a few more newborns add to the population of the Strait of Gibraltar. We end the summer with around 60 biopsies of known individual pilot whales. These biopsies will allow us to study the diet of different groups of the Strait. This study is carried out for the PhD thesis of Renaud de Stephanis. We will also make different genetic studies. From the sample collected, we can know the sex of the individual, its parental link to the other individuals of the group and finally see if the population of the Strait of Gibraltar is isolated from the other population living in the Alboran Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This study is carried out by Philippe Verborgh for his PhD thesis.
The newborns of July and a calf from June who
already grew up a lot!
24/07/2006: Mid July, a nice surprise was waiting for us from the killer whales. A newborn killer joined the group of Camacho, the big male of the Strait. We continue to biopsy the killer whales that are not so easy to approach as they spend most of their time underwater chasing tuna in migration and spend very little time on surface. It is also very hard to predict where they will surface. However we still managed to biopsy 9 of the 16 individuals present in the centre of the Strait in summer.
The newborn of this summer still yellow. Biopsy
and photo-identification of a killer whale
10/07/2006: Beginning of July, we are working with Simone Panigada and Cristina Fossi from the University of Sienna, Italy who are comparing contamination levels of striped dolphins and fin whales at different places in the Mediterranean Sea. They came to biopsy these two species in the Strait of Gibraltar. We have a team on land that is looking for fin whales in order to inform the boat that can then head towards them and we can biopsy them. Fin whales usually cross the Strait at this time of the year, unfortunately the Levante (East wind) did not allow us to look for them for a long time. The fog enters in the Strait with the East wind and prevents us from doing any sightings or trip at sea. However, we still managed to observe a few individuals but they were always too far from the boat and were going too fast to catch them. Anyway, we could biopsy many striped dolphins for the study.
Simone Panigada and Cristina Fossi on the bow
of the boat with their poles fitted with a tip ready to biopsy the striped dolphins
that came bow riding our boat.
June 2006
26/06/2006: After a week without seeing any pilot whales in the Strait, they are coming back with a nice surprise: around 15 newborns accompany the individuals that we know for many years now.
Two newborn pilot whales in June in the Strait
of Gibraltar
25/06/2006: We have also seen the killer whales in the center part of the Strait where we could finally start our project on their diet, financed by Loro Parque. We will determine the turnover rate of stable isotopes in the fat in captivity at the Loro Parque in the Canaries Islands. This will let us know if the killer whales of the Strait only feed on tuna or if they have a more diverse diet. It is also a basic study to know how long it takes for the ingested food to be detected in the stable isotopes of the fat.
The return of the killer whales.
20/06/2006: This is the time of the year where the presence of sperm whales is usually higher. So we went out to identify the individuals present. We are still observing the same individuals that we know since 1998 and every year also brings a few new individuals.
The sperm whales Amanita on the left and Champi
on the right are both known and regularly seen in the Strait of Gibraltar since
1998
04/06/2006: We are finishing our survey in the Gulf of Cadiz where we have put a lot of effort this year to truly understand what is happening with the bottlenose dolphins and the importance of the area for the other cetacean species. We have been lucky as in two days we found almost all the individuals that we identified during the year. One of the individual had pieces of fishing nets caught in its pectoral fin. However, it did not seem to a burden for him. We also made one of our most beautiful pictures of bottlenose dolphin… to be seen with the new pictures in the photo gallery.
May 2006
29/05/2006: On the 29th of May, after a stormy week, a killer whale that we knew from the preceding year from around Barbate was found dead in the Bay of Algeciras. We could recognise it thanks to the two notches on the base of the dorsal fin. From the first observations it died of natural death as it was an old individual looking at the weathered teeth. It also did not eat for a very long time judging on the very thin fat layer.
Killer whale in the harbour of Algeciras on the
left and the notches at the base of the dorsal fin that permitted its identification
on the right
23/05/2006: We are currently between the Strait of Gibraltar and Barbate looking for killer whales that should arrive with the tunas that are migrating in large quantities judging from the catches made by the tuna nets: more than 1000 tunas in 3 days only for the Barbate tuna net. We are waiting for wind to fall in order to check the presence of killer whales in the area.
All the tuna caught by the tuna nets are directly sold to the Japanese boats
20/05/2006: CIRCE was in the Strait to identify the sperm whale present. So far we have only identified Champi. A sperm whale that comes back to the Strait every year since at least 1999 and that we recognise from the white patches present on the caudal fin. We have also worked with bottlenose dolphins and took advantage of a rare behaviour in the Strait where a hundred individuals were travelling slowly in a very compact group. These are ideal conditions that allow us to take many high quality pictures of dorsal fin of many individuals. This then helps us in the monitoring of the bottlenose dolphin population of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Bottlenose dolphins in the Strait of Gibraltar
April 2006
27/04/2006: We have looked for the killer whales that are generally around Barbate at this time of the year to feed on tunas that are migrating to the Mediterranean Sea to reproduce. Unfortunately the tunas were not there yet and so the killer whales either. We also continued our survey in the Gulf of Cadiz where we came across a small group of bottlenose dolphins that we know well from the area. They offered us a great show with a few impressive jumps.
Bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Cadiz
18/04/2006: At our return from Poland, we went back to the Strait to work on pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins in the Strait of Gibraltar
10/04/2006: All CIRCE’s team was in Poland for the 20th annual congress of the ECS (European Cetaceans Society). We have presented 5 posters and made an oral presentation. The theme of the conference was “Marine mammals and men in coastal ecosystems: can they co-exist?”. Therefore, we emphasized the different anthropologic impacts on cetacean populations of the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz and more specifically on the construction of the new harbour near Tangier in Morocco that will change the merchant traffic in the Strait. We also presented the first population estimation of the bottlenose dolphin population of the Strait of Gibraltar and made an oral presentation on the pilot whales of the Strait of Gibraltar and the possible impacts of the maritime traffic. You can find all the abstracts of the posters and the oral presentation and the posters in our section “Research/Presentation”.
March 2006
23/03/2006: We were in the Strait of Gibraltar where we observed many newborn pilot whales that did not probably had more than a few days as we did not see them in February. These observations continue to confirm the residence of this population in the Strait and show that the pilot whales do not need to migrate out of the Strait to give reproduce or at least to give birth.
Newborn pilot whale in the
Strait of Gibraltar
15/03/2006: We continue our surveys in the Gulf of Cadiz where we observed one porpoise and only one bottlenose dolphin. The presence of porpoises in the area is known but very poorly studied as they are very hard to detect and in very low density. This sighting confirms their presence in the region.
February 2006
15/02/2006: After spending 2 weeks in the Gulf of Cadiz, we went back to the Strait of Gibraltar to do a few photo-identification sessions of pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins that are still more acrobatic in winter. We are still recording the same individuals that reside all year round in the Strait.
Bottlenose dolphin jumps in the Strait of Gibraltar
We also witnessed the persecution of a striped dolphin by a group of bottlenose dolphins. This did not surprise us because there has always been a very important spatial segregation between both species in the Strait of Gibraltar. The intrusion of a species on the territory of the other is then probably not welcome.
Striped dolphin persecuted by a bottlenose dolphin
08/02/2006: During the month of February we were on survey in the Gulf of Cadiz where we mainly worked on bottlenose dolphins and the photo-identification of the population that seems to use quite a large area from the observation of the same individuals on distances of 100km. The majority of the coast in the Gulf is made of military zones which mean that we regularly assist to military manoeuvres in high sea and also restrains the area we can survey to find cetaceans.
Military explosion on the left and bottlenose dolphin of the Gulf of Cadiz on
the right
During bad day weather, we work in our office in Pelayo. We have translated the website to Catalan and made great advances in the bottlenose dolphin catalogues of the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz.
December – January 2006
22/01/2006: We put our boat out of the water in Tarifa in order to equip it with new more powerful engines that will allow us to follow more easily the fin whales that are migrating through the Strait of Gibraltar and to reach the sperm whales before they dive. We have also finished some internal works in the boat in order to have a more comfortable place to live during the surveys in the Gulf of Cadiz where we sometimes live onboard for a month. We also painted the outside and the hull of the boat and put stickers of CIRCE’s website and logo of the association to have a better visibility at sea and in the harbours. A huge thanks to all the volunteers present who greatly helped us during our work.
Our boat Elsa painted and
with its new engines
CIRCE currently participate in the workshops organised by ACCOBAMS (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area) taking place in Monaco. The first workshop aims at gathering all the information on Mediterranean fin whales and in particular information needed to establish conservation plans. The Strait of Gibraltar is an obligatory passage point for some fin whales migrating from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. CIRCE participated in the collection of these data and will be part of the next projects (genetic studies, quantification of migration and photo-identification).
On the other hand, CIRCE participate to the second workshop on "fin whales and colisions" in the Mediterranean Sea. The Strait of GIbraltar is an important place as the maritime trafic never stops. ACCOBAMS recommends that agreements should be passed between SPain and MOrroco in order to reduce the impact of maritime trafic on finwhales and sperm whales.
The General Direction for Biodiversity of the Spanish Ministry of Environment funds our project "Impacts produced by the maritime traffic on cetacean populations in the Strait of Gibraltar. Current situation and future prospects" through the Orden MAM/2698/2005 of the 3rd of August 2005 (BOE n° 197, of the 18th of August 2005). Soon more information on the project.
CIRCE's website hosts the 2nd International Workshop on Detection and Localization of Marine Mammals using Passive Acoustics that will take place in the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco on the 16-18th of November 2005.
We still have a few places available for research volunteers this summer in the Strait of Gibraltar where we will work on pilot whales (put on time depth recorders, acoustic recordings and photo-identification).
Posters on bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales fin whales and our database shown at the ECS (European Cetacean Society) congress in March 2004, Sweden are available in the "Research" section.
Thursday 25th September 2003
CIRCE wish you all a very good Christmas and a happy new year. Keep an eye on your tv program as there will be a documentary on the killer whales on BBC1 and on the Discovery Channel in the next few days to come. Some of the images were taken in the Strait of Gibraltar this summer with our help.
CENTRO DE COORDINACIÓN DEL VOLUNTARIADO: +34 900 606 022
ADEGA (Asociación para a
Defensa Ecolóxica de Galiza): +34 680 42 08 07
http://mais.vieiros.com/desastreprestige,
http://www.u-lo.com/prestige,
http://www.le-cedre.fr,
http://www.chapapote.es.vg,
http://www.cetmar.org/web/documentacion/mareas_negras.htm,
www.uvigo.es/webs/c04/webc04/prestige/marea%20negra.htm
The new program for the research volunteer for 2003 is now available here.
