Marinelife is one of 17 research organisations from England and France working on the Charm III Project, which runs from 2009-2012. Charm III is 50% funded by the EU (Interreg IV Programme), and aims to provide the underlying data and scientific evidence to help better manage our offshore environment. A digital atlas illustrating the distribution of dolphins, whales and seabirds in the western Channel will be both an important and exciting output from the project.
Through Charm III, Marinelife is surveying the whole of the western Channel by a combination of ferry surveys, volunteer surveys on dive, angling and fishing boats, systematic transect surveys, targeted surveys to fill coverage gaps and collection of data from skippers and other recorders.
Find out a little bit more about our surveys here.
You can keep up to date with our survey progress and latest sightings at the Charm III Channel Marine Mammal & Seabird Survey Blog
You can also become a volunteer surveyor, or send in your sightings made at sea.
For more information about the project or to enquire about how you can access this data for your research, please contact Dr Tom Brereton, MARINElife Research Director.