Here are 10 ways you can help protect dolphins, whales and porpoises:
1. Avoid using plastic bags – many end up in our water courses and then in the seas and can harm dolphins and whales.
2. Love our UK Dolphins - 'adopt' one and help Sea Watch continue its research into how our coastal waters can be kept and made safe for them. Visit www.adoptadolphin.org.uk for more information.
3. Think about climate change issues – if our seas are warming up as a result of global warming, all our sea mammals will have to adapt. For instance, when you travel by car or plane, is that journey really necessary and are you being careful with the energy you use at home?
4. Tell your friends about our UK Dolphins and Whales. There's loads of information about them on www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk. You don’t have to go on foreign holidays to see them. They can be seen on the UK coast.
5. Let Sea Watch know if you see a whale, dolphin or a porpoise. If you can take a photograph and tell us where you saw them, what they were doing, and how many there were, it all helps add to the information we have gathered. To do this call 01545 561227 or email sightings@seawatchfoundation.org.uk.
6. If you are around the coast on August 5 - 7, take part inm National Whale and Dolphin Watch. Check out the NWDW pages on www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk to find a watch near you.
7. Flush with care – avoid putting things like cotton buds down the loo. Many of these are appearing on British beaches after failing to be processed by our sewage systems.
8. If you are in a boat, observe the Marine Code of Conduct by slowing down to six knots or less when you are within half a kilometre of dolphins, whales or porpoises to avoid disturbing them, and do not follow or chase them. For more details of the Code, visit the Sea Watch website.
9.Do not swim with, touch or feed UK dolphins, for your safety and theirs. Besides the stress you can cause them, remember that, just as in humans, diseases can be spread by close contact. Dolphins are larger than humans and can cause unwitting injury.
10. Make sure you and your family only ever eat sustainably caught fish – including tuna which is caught using dolphin-friendly methods – most manufacturers will tell you if this is the case.
Every year Sea Watch organises a National Whale and Dolphin Watch week, when members of the public can join experienced observers around the coastline to collect sightings. Since the event began in 2002, more than 3,500 sightings have been made in locations from the Channel Islands and the Scillies to the Shetland Isles, encompassing places as varied as Brighton, Plymouth, Anglesey, Aberdeen, Whitby and Hull.
In total, 28 species of dolphins, whales and porpoises have been recorded in UK and Irish waters, 12 of these during a National Whale and Dolphin Watch.
Dolphins face a number of threats including accidental capture in fishing nets, marine pollution, noise disturbance and depletion of fish stocks. They may also be affected by rising sea temperatures as a result of global climate change.
Sea Watch is a registered marine conservation research charity working to improve the conservation of whales and dolphins in the seas around Britain and Ireland. It aims to involve, inform and educate members of the public and to raise awareness of threats faced by marine mammals.
The Sea Watch www.adoptadolphin.org.uk was voted by BBC Wildlife magazine as the best UK animal adoption scheme.
In 2009, Sea Watch became the first UK organisation to win an international Education and Outreach award from ASCOBANS/UNEP. ASCOBANS stands for the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas. The Treaty has been in force since 1994 with an extension of the Agreement Area to include the Irish Sea and North East Atlantic (linking up to the ACCOBAMS Agreement Area) coming into force in February 2008. The Treaty involves 10 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom.
BG Group plc is a leading player in the global energy market, with a strategy focused on connecting competitively priced resources to specific, high-value markets. Active in more than 25 countries over five continents, BG Group is a dynamic growing business with a focus on understanding, building and supplying natural gas markets around the world. The company operates in three key sectors - Exploration and Production, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), and Transmission and Distribution.
This is the 12th year that BG Group has provided funding for Sea Watch. The company seeks to support social and economic development in the communities where it does business and is proud to continue its support of the National Whale and Dolphin Watch. Website: www.bg-group.com
Check out the charity’s website www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk where you can find details of watches near you; their YouTube compilation of species you can see in the UK and two striking new films made by the Sea Watch Young Persons Environmental Film Workshops in conjunction with Pembrokeshire’s Buzz Challenge, Plastics and Pollution and Listen to Our Cautious Tales.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT SEA WATCH FOUNDATION AND NATIONAL WHALE AND DOLPHIN WATCH OR FOR PICTURES PLEASE CONTACT: Wendy Necar 01926 421679, 0797 3523168, w.necar@ntlworld.com or Julie Albray 01455 212230 or 0777 164 3337, julie@xpruk.com