JNCC is partnering with ORCA on a pilot programme aiming to collect data to address identified gaps for whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) in UK waters.
Cetaceans are highly mobile species that rely on healthy seas across the UK. Cetaceans face numerous challenges from a variety of pressures ranging from poor water quality, multiple human activities and competing usage of our seas. In addition, climate change is altering the seas and the availability of food for many species, including cetaceans.
We need good data to provide the best advice to industry, report on species status and understand these cumulative challenges. Yet in the UK, information is still patchy – especially offshore, inside and around Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and at finer seasonal scales. This new pilot programme aims to provide that data through high-quality, cost-effective surveys.
By utilising ORCA’s highly trained and experienced marine mammal surveyors on existing seaborne platforms such as ferries, cruise ships, freight and other ‘platforms of opportunity’ already crossing our seas, the partnership will target priority species, seasons and areas where data are currently limited.
The initiative aims to improve the evidence available for use in spatial management and industry advice to better inform effective and appropriate management decisions, and strengthen assessment and reporting capacity - including progress towards Good Environmental Status for marine mammals (the legal benchmark for European and UK marine waters to be clean, healthy and productive, ensuring sustainable use while maintaining biodiversity). All data collected will be made open-access through the Joint Cetacean Data Programme (JCDP), so government, regulators, industry, researchers and NGOs can apply it widely. The work is funded through the Healthy and Biologically Diverse Seas Evidence Group.
"Cetaceans are challenging to monitor so we need to think creatively to help collect the evidence needed to inform decision-making. JNCC is convening expertise to set clear priorities so new effort directly tackles the key evidence needs,” said Nikki Taylor, Senior Marine Species Specialist, JNCC. “By aligning data collection to those needs and sharing data openly through the JCDP, this project aims to add immediate and sustained capacity for high quality cetacean science.”
“This collaboration lets us scale up what works – robust distance-sampling surveys from platforms that are already at sea – so we can answer the ‘where, when and why’ questions managers face,” said Lucy Babey, Director of Programmes, ORCA. “With our established and experienced surveyor network and routes across UK waters, we can rapidly expand coverage, focus on data-poor regions, and help decision-makers act with confidence.”
The focus is on species and places. Stakeholder engagement has highlighted the need for enhanced monitoring of MPAs, offshore regions and finer temporal/spatial scales to inform offshore industry advice, species reporting and pressure assessments (e.g. bycatch, climate change, prey availability, underwater noise and cumulative impacts). High-priority species include harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, minke whale, fin whale, Risso’s dolphin and beaked whales.
ORCA is a UK-based marine conservation charity and a recognised leader in ship-based cetacean science globally. By training and deploying skilled volunteer surveyors on ‘platforms of opportunity’, ORCA has built extensive long-term datasets that are informing conservation decisions from Alaska to the Antarctic.
You can find out more about the programme in our blog post: Closing the gaps: how JNCC and ORCA are exploring scaling up of cetacean monitoring in UK waters.
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