The Strait of Gibraltar
Research Work
Since starting our work in 1998 we have gained deep knowledge on marine mammal populations in the Strait of Gibraltar and thus know that 6 to 8 families of pilot whales live or at least regularly spend some time in the Strait near Tarifa.
To give you a short insight into our research work, we'd like to list some points of interest from our pilot whale project for you.
Through investigation we want to learn more about the pilot whale populations in the Strait of Gibraltar, such as:
- populations sizes
- social structures
- migration habits
This we do by the following means:
- observation
- taking important data
- photo identification
Thus we were able to find out that more than 150 pilot whales are at least temporarily in the Strait of Gibraltar. Some of those we see quite regularly so that we have been able to deepen our knowledge on their feeding habits and social behaviour.
You want to know how we could recognize them again? Through photo identification.Every whale has a unique dorsal fin. They differ in height and shape and might even bear scars from other creatures' attacks or accidents colliding with vessels. What we do is take photos of the whales' dorsal fins (exactly in profile if possible) which help us recognize individuals on subsequent excursions. »Old friends« are of course recognized even without checking photographs first.
As we work with a digital camera, date and exact time of sighting are automatically saved. When archiving the photos, they can therefore easily be connected with the according data sheet. The information taken during our excursions allow further conclusions on the behaviour of the animals.
The following pictures show how unique the shapes of the dorsal fins are (similarly unique as a human fingerprint)
