Sea Trust Photo-ID Data 2023!

January 29, 2024
Harbour Porpoise – The photo was taken by our volunteer Ken (July 2023)
Harbour Porpoise – The photo was taken by our volunteer Ken (July 2023)
Risso’s Dolphin – the photo was taken by our intern Hannah GB (October 2023)

Porpoise data 2023!

Sea Trust has had an amazing year in our Porpoise photo-identification project! In 2023, we conducted 209 surveys over 4 sites; Strumble Head, Little Haven, Ramsey Sound and Pen Anglas. 76% of our surveys were conducted at Strumble Head, 16% at Little Haven, 4% at Pen Anglas, and 4% at Ramsey Sound. Overall, we have spent 22,720 minutes surveying these sites. The number of porpoises and species we have seen on these surveys has been amazing! 

We are excited to say that we had 618 sightings of Harbour Porpoises in 2023! April was the best month for our Harbour porpoise sightings with 72 sightings! By the end of 2023, we had added 13 new porpoises to the catalogue. These porpoises are; Elmer, Lorax, Matilda, Mr. Wonker, Paddington, Dora, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Scooby-doo, Squidward, Bingo, Peach and Shaggy! We even had 20 re-sightings of porpoises in the catalogue! 

Our survey teams also saw several other species while looking out for our harbour porpoises. The most common other sighting was Common dolphins. 24% of our surveys saw Common dolphins. We saw Risso’s dolphins on 5% of surveys, Grey seals on 10% of surveys, bottlenose dolphins on 2% of surveys and even sunfish on 2%! We also connected with so many people through our surveys. We had reached 679 people and got to introduce Sea Trust, what happens on our surveys and any sightings we had on the day! 

We are so grateful for our survey teams and volunteers who have made this year so amazing and kept our porpoise photo-identification project running! We are so excited to see what 2024 will bring us and we can’t wait to keep sharing our journey with you!