New Discoveries from West African Pelagic Cruise: 2-10 May 2011
Dr Tom Brereton, MARINElife Research Director, has just returned from a pioneering eight-day sea trip sailing from Cape Verde to Madeira via the Canary Islands and shelf-edge waters off western Africa.
Tom led a Naturetrek group and was amongst other naturalists sailing on the MV Plancius, an Antarctica and Arctic wildlife cruise ship operated by Oceanwide. The 2600km journey involved dawn until dusk observations conducted across more than 1000km of cruise line.
A fabulous variety of marine wildlife was encountered including 33 species of seabird, 13 species of whale and dolphin, plus turtles, sharks and many Portuguese Man-of-War and flying fish. Rarities included a White-tailed Tropicbird off Santiago, Cape Verde, which may be only the second record for the Western Palearctic region, following a sighting in 1999.
The trip was important for conservation research, with new data collected in rarely sampled waters off west Africa. The sightings will be added to MARINElife's growing database of cetacean and seabird encounters from cruise ships, container ships, ferries, research vessels and smaller boats that sail in Western Palearctic waters. In addition, tail fluke photographs of Sperm Whales in the Canaries and Humpback Whales off Cape Verde will be supplied to current photo-identification projects managed by partner bodies. Finally, our Risso's Dolphin sightings will contribute to a current global review of the species' distribution compiled by Caroline Weir (Ketos Ecology) and Tom Jefferson (NOAA).