Dolphin research Week 04th-09th February
February 4 – 9, 2008
04/02/2008
This morning we went out early on a fishery boat to observe dolphins around the fish farm. As during every course, we took environmental surveys every 20 minutes. The first sighting was early – a solitary male hunting around the nets and anchoring ropes. The day was mostly scanning the water and taking measurements – wind speed and direction, lat/long, depth, visibility, sea conditions, number of boats and what types and what types of nets in the water, etc. Back at the base in the afternoon, we transcribed all the environmental and sighting data for the day. Later, the data will be taken from the transcription notebook and entered into the database.
05/02/2008
A brisk morning walk to the market proved that the wind was too strong to go out to sea. Instead, we worked on transcription in the lab. There is a lot of transcribed data that needs to be put into the database, plus photo ID to be done and acoustic recordings to be analyzed.
06/02/2008
Since yesterday’s programme was canceled due to wind, we adopted it today. This morning called for more database entry and acoustics interpretation. To go out to sea this afternoon, we planned on taking the smaller boat. Once we got to the harbor, it was discovered that a support post on the motor had broken, rendering it useless. So we jumped aboard a fishery boat for a free ride to the fish farm. We watched for dolphins over the cling-cling-cling and plop-plop-plop of the food pellets falling into the dispenser, then being rocketed through the air into the fish cages. No dolphins today – too windy (4 on the Douglas scale). Back at the harbor, we stopped to talk to a local fisherman. Bruno lent him 2 pingers, in return for which Bruno got a bag full of today’s catch – connari. After an afternoon of transcription, these little fish became our dinner.
07/02/2008
Last fall, the institute bought the Spartana, 32-year old wooden boat that wasn’t maintained properly. So they have taken on the project of restoring it after having it inspected. Instead of lab work this morning, we worked on the boat repairs. The town mechanic gave it a clean bill of health last week. Unfortunately, everything in the interior was removed – like hooks and hatch covers and ceiling panels. The work is almost completed, but pieces still need to be reattached and their electronics installed. After lunch, we continued with the transcription in the lab.
08/02/2008
The winds grew stronger overnight. The fishery boats still went out, so we climbed aboard and held on. The strongest winds measured blew at 92 m/s, versus the usual 5-10 m/s. Everything had to be held down, which made data collection difficult. But the dolphins were out nonetheless! We heard their whistles as they were bow riding below us. We tracked 5 dolphins all morning. The wind brought us back to port before 10. We stopped at the Spartana for more repairs and enhancements. Tonight, data transcription.
09/02/2008
More Spartana fix-up!
