Porpoise Photo-ID Project
Seven years in, the photo-ID project is continuing to bust the myth that you cannot identify harbour porpoises using photo-ID. With a catalogue of around 200 individuals and a team of volunteers out surveying most days of the week, we are getting a closer look into the daily lives of these animals. Finding out things about the species and the Pembrokeshire population that has never been known before. Help us continue our ground-breaking work by donating to our Porpoise Photo-ID Project fundraising page. DONATEPhoto-ID Methods Report
Porpoise Photo-ID Project
This a community project that conducts ground-breaking harbour porpoise research through photo-ID, recruits and trains local volunteers as citizen scientists, visits local schools with the marine wildlife roadshow, spreads awareness about our local marine wildlife and increases individual and community well-being. The project is currently funded by the Enhancing Pembrokeshire Fund and the Heritage Fund from the National Lottery with contributions from Valero, Biodiversity Solutions, The Nineveh Trust and the Sea Trust Swimathon. Sea Trust would like to thank all its funders, second-home owners in Fishguard, Goodwick and Pencaer and the national lottery players for funding such an important and ground-breaking project.
The aim of this project is to continue our long-term monitoring of the species and its habitat through photo ID surveys, increase awareness of the harbour porpoise in the local area and positively influence mental health and well-being.
The citizen science aspect of the project focuses on the photo-ID surveys and the volunteers. Volunteers benefit directly from the project, accessing nature on a weekly basis and working as a team towards the conservation of a very important species. In previous years we have seen vast improvements in volunteer mental health and well-being and individual personal and professional development. The photo-ID surveys around the Pembrokeshire coastal path will provide essential data regarding porpoise movement, individual and group and population dynamics and much more. The data collected as part of this project will contribute towards answering questions regarding harbour porpoise site usage, behaviours, provide additional information of the range of the local population as well as the potential effects of human activities on their behaviour. The information we collect can aid in the protection of the species which will have a positive knock on effect to its associating ecosystem and the natural heritage of the area. The data we can collect here in Pembrokeshire will add to the current knowledge of porpoises and therefore has the potential to be pivotal in porpoise research. The picture below shows just some of the information we can find out through long-term monitoring.
The community aspect of the project focuses on community outreach and raising awareness of the harbour porpoise and other marine wildlife. The project works with local schools and community groups as well as host several project related community events.
The project educates the community about the precious marine life they have on their doorstep and encourages them to be proud of their natural heritage and in turn protect it by changing their attitudes and behaviours. Long-term monitoring surveys will help ensure that the porpoises and other marine life are protected and will remain abundant around the Pembrokeshire coast for future generations to enjoy. This project will make a lasting difference to natural heritage by establishing baseline porpoise data including porpoise movements, behaviour and population status. Data collected will assist in our overall goal of protecting the harbour porpoise population in Pembrokeshire.
Our photo-ID data has contributed to the chapter “Sexual Behavior and Anatomy in Porpoises” in the book Sex in Cetaceans, co-authored by Holly Dunn (previous Sea Trust Project Manager). Read the chapter here.
To become a volunteer for the Porpoise Photo-ID Project contact nadia@seatrust.org.uk
Reports:
Mental-health-and-wellbeing_-the-benefits-of-environmental-volunteering
Prosiect ‘Porpoise’ yr Pobl
Mae’r Prosiect Porpoise yr Pobl yn prosiect cymunedol sy’n cynnal ymchwil pwysig mewn i’r ‘Harbour Porpoise’ trwy lluniau adnabod (‘photo-ID’), recriwtio a hyfforddu gwirfoddolwyr fel gwyddonwyr dinesydd (‘citizen scientists’), ymweld ag ysgolion lleol gyda’r sioe deithiol bywyd gwyllt morol, lednaenu ymwybyddiaeth a’r bywyd gwyllt morol lleol a chodi lles unigolion a’r gymuned. Mae’r prosiect yn cael eu hariannu gan yr cronfa ‘Enhancing Pembrokeshire’ a’r Cronfa Dreftadaeth wrth yr National lottery, gyda cyfraniadau gan Valero, Biodiversity solutions, The Nineveh Trust a’r ‘Sea Trust Swimathon’. Mae’r Sea Trust am ddiolch yr holl Arianwyr, perchnogion ail-gatref yn Abergwaun, Wdig a Pencaer a’r chwaraewyr yr National Lottery am ariannu prosiect mor pwysig.
Nod yr prosiect yw I parhau gyda monitro yr rhywogaeth a’i gynefin tymor hir trwy arolygon lluniau adnabod, codi ymwyddydiaeth o’r Harbour Porpoise yn yr cymuned lleol a chreu dylanwad positif a’r iechyd meddwl a lles yr gymuned. Er mwyn cyflawni yr nodau hyn mae’r prosiect yn cyfuno dau cydrannau; ‘Gwyddonwyr dinesydd gyda’r Porpoise’ a ‘Allgymorth gyda’r Porpoise’.
Mae ‘gwyddonwyr dinesydd gyda’r Porpoise’ yn canolbwyntio ar yr arolygon lluniau adnabod a’r gwirfoddolwyr. Mae’r gwirfoddolwyr budd yn uniongyrchol o’r prosiect trwy gwario amser yn natur yn wythnosol a gweithio mewn tîm tuag at yr cadwraeth rhwyogaeth pwysig iawn. Mewn blynyddoed blaenorol mae’r prosiect wedi gweld gwelliannau enfawr yn iechyd meddwl a lles gwirfoddolwyr a datblygiad personol and profesiynol rhai unigolion. Bydd y’r arolygon lluniau adnabod o gwmpas arfordir Sir Benfro yn rhoi data pwysig ini ynglyn a’r symudiad yr Porpoise, dynameg poblogaeth fel unigolyn a fel grwpiau a llawer mwy. Bydd yr data sy’n cael ei casglu yn helpu ni ateb cwestiynau ar sut mae’r Harbour Porpoise yn defnyddio safleoedd ac eu ymddygiad, a darganfod gwybodaeth ychwanegol ar yr poblogaeth lleol a sut mae gweithgareddau dynol yn effeithio yr Porpoise. Mae’r gwybodaeth yr ydym yn casglu yn helpu amddiffyn yr rhywogaeth a bydd yn cael effaith positif ar gweddill yr ecosystem a treftadaeth naturiol lleol. Mae’r data yr ydym yn casglu yn Sir Benfro yn medru ychwanegu at gwybodaeth cyfredol o’r Porpoise, ac felly mae’n gael yr potential I fod yn gwaith ymchwil golynnol. Mae’r llun isod yn dangos yr gwybodaeh yr ydym yn gallu casglu try arolygon tymor hir.
Mae ‘Allgymorth gyda’r Porpoise’ yn canolbwyntio ar allgymorth yn yr cymuned a codi ymwybyddiaeth o’r Harbour Porpoise a bywyd gwyllt morol arall. Bydd yr prosiect yn gweithio gyda ysgolion lleol, grwpiau cymuned a cynnal sawl digwyddiad cymunedol. Fel rhan o prosiect hyn bydd yr Sea Trust yn ymweld ag ysgolion lleol gyda’r ‘Whale Workshop’s Marine Wildlife Roadshow’. Mae’r sioe wedi cael ei dylunio i dysgu plant am yr bywyd gwyllt morol sydd yn byw yn mor yn yr DU, yr pwysigrwydd yr anifeiliaid, yr bygythiadau i’r anifeiliaid a sut yr ydym yn gally edrych ar ol yr bywyd gwyllt morol a’r môr.
Bydd yr prosiect yn addysgu yr cymuned am yr bywyd gwyllt morol gwerthfawr sydd ar eu trothwy a annog nhw I fod yn balch o’i treftadaeth naturiol, ac mewn tro amddiffyn e trwy newid ei agwedd a’i ymddygiad. Bydd arolygon tymor hir yn helpu sicrhau bydd Propoises ac anifeiliad morol gwyllt arall yn cael ei amddiffyn a bydd yn aros o gwmpas arfordir Sir Benfro ar gyfer cenedlaethau’r dyfodol I mwynhau. Bydd prosiect hyn yn cael gwahaniaeth parhaol ar treftadaeth naturiol trwy sefydlu data Porpoise gwaelodlin gan cynnwys symudiad porpoise, ymddygiad a statws poblogaeth. Bydd yr data sy’n cael ei casglu yn helpu ni yn ein nod cyffredinol o amddiffyn yr Harbour Porpoise yn Sir Benfro.
I dod yn gwirfoddolwr ar gyfer yr Prosiect Porpoise yr Pobl cysylltwch a nadia@seatrust.org.uk.
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