With one-third of the world's known species of whales and dolphins having been recorded in our waters, Ireland is an ideal location for spotting cetaceans, writes Lorna Siggins
Marine scientists tend to be a pretty practical bunch, unlikely to be impressed by "grand gestures". However, one such action was remembered with warmth at the new Marine Institute headquarters in Galway recently, when a minute's silence was held for the former taoiseach, Charles J Haughey.
Had he been around, he would have been a surprise special guest, Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), intimated at the marine mammal conference. Just 15 years ago last month, the then taoiseach declared Europe's first sanctuary for dolphins and whales in Irish waters.
That it hadn't been done before, that it was a source of ridicule among some political commentators, and that the State didn't have adequate coastguard or research facilities to enforce it - all that didn't matter. Sound logic and spirited innovation don't always make for the best of bedfellows. "One can only wish that other statespeople would leave such a legacy," Dr Berrow noted.
"Mr Haughey was many things to many people, but he always held a genuine interest in the sea," Dr Berrow continued, recalling how the decision created a new awareness of Ireland's rich marine environment. The IWDG owed its origins to it, he said, and Haughey became the first to renew his membership every year, while also reporting sightings from his Blasket island of Inishvickillane.
"We will miss him - and of course we'd love it if he left us Celtic Mist for research," Dr Berrow added.
The conference, hosted by the IWDG with the Irish Marine Institute and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), was on the subject of establishing a joint database for cetacean (whale and dolphin) sightings in Irish waters. The conference timing was auspicious for two very different reasons, one of the leading participants noted. While the architect of Europe's first sanctuary was being buried at home, pro-whaling nations abroad were in the majority for the first time at this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in St Kitts.
That group - led by Japan, and including Norway, Iceland and Denmark - succeeded in voting through a declaration that condemned the 1986 international moratorium on commercial whale-hunting as "invalid". The declaration also accused the IWC of failing its obligations, and blamed whales for depleting fish stocks.
Ireland, Britain, Australia and other members dissociated themselves from the declaration, stating it carried no policy implications. However, environmental non-governmental organisation Whalewatch was more pessimistic, perceiving it as a very real threat to the existing 20-year ban on whaling. The ban is already regarded as having a serious loophole, allowing Norway and Japan to take part in some limited hunting for "scientific purposes".
IRELAND HAS HAD its own record on exploitation, a new handbook (see panel) published at the Galway conference records. The guide, written by Jim Wilson with Dr Berrow, notes that early Irish Christian writings refer to the use of whalebones in daily life, and St Brendan the Navigator is reputed to have said Mass on the back of one at sea while en route to Iceland.
There is evidence to suggest that our Viking visitors hunted cetaceans off this coast, it notes, and whale oil, probably derived from strandings, was an Irish export in the 17th and 18th centuries. Donegal led the way in terms of organised whale-hunting in the 18th century, and a Killybegs man, Thomas Nesbitt, invented what may have been the world's first workable harpoon gun.
Lamp oil, umbrellas, explosives, mattress stuffing and even decorative arches from jawbones were all derived from the marine mammals during this period, and there are records of some 700 whales being killed and cut up at two Norwegian whaling stations established in Blacksod Bay and on Inishkea Island, Co Mayo, in the early part of the last century. It was only in 1923 that commercial whaling stopped here, and the subsequent international collapse was due to over-exploitation.
Should the worst happen, and the moratorium on hunting fail to hold in future years, Ireland could find itself at the centre of a revived international industry. Not only does this island have some of Europe's richest fishing grounds - heavily exploited by our EU partners - but almost one-third of the world's known species of whales, dolphins and porpoises have been recorded here.
A section in the guide about how to get involved in that information-gathering reflects an essential part of the IWDG's inclusive philosophy, as it relies heavily on volunteers. IWDG speaker Dave Wall conveyed some of that enthusiasm in his talk on surveys conducted on "ships of opportunity" (SOPs). Irish Sea ferries have proved to be most co-operative in allowing IWDG volunteers to travel once a month on three routes between Larne and Cairnryan, Dublin and Holyhead and Rosslare and Pembroke.
TOGETHER WITH SURVEYS on other vessels undertaken between 2003 and 2006, more than 5,600 individual mammals have been recorded, including a "super group" of 3,000 dolphins spotted last year. During the State's national seabed survey, the Heritage Council also financed five months of surveying by the IWDG, when some eight species, ranging from bottlenose dolphin to minke and fin whale, were recorded.
Highest species diversity was noted on the Rockall Bank, Wall said. The IWDG's findings have been collated as part of its Irish Scheme for Cetacean Observation and Public Education (IScope), published in May 2006.
Sighting is just one surveying method, Dr Emer Rogan of University College Cork (UCC) told the conference. Her team purchased a hydrophone to identify the many sounds cetaceans make, and at least eight species were recorded during acoustic surveys - which are less weather dependent and can be conducted at night.
She outlined how UCC scientists and colleagues at the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre (CMRC) have led a number of cetacean and seabird projects over the past 12 years, with one of the most recent being a three-volume study for the Petroleum Affairs Division (PAD) of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
The impact of current and future seismic activity in Ireland's whale and dolphin sanctuary is a key concern for the IWDG. The first study on the impact of this - commissioned by the PAD for the Government under the terms of the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive - says that seabirds, whales and dolphins would be most vulnerable, due to possible sea surface pollution and the effects of underwater noise.
The study, published recently in draft form, has recommended that guidelines for seismic surveys drawn up by the IWDG should be made "a requirement". It recommends that further impact assessments should be carried out on a site-specific basis.
Long-promised marine special areas of conservation (SACs) under the EU Habitats Directive are due to be in place by 2008 and instigated by 2010, and there are currently no offshore special protection areas (SPAs). But as Dr Berrow has noted in the new guide, the lack of information on relative abundance of cetaceans, on their critical habitats and resting places, makes conservation and site designation "very difficult".
Co-operation on further research was one of the main aims of the conference, which was chaired by Mr Micheál Ó Cinnéide of the Marine Institute and Dr Ciaran O'Keeffe of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The NPWS has made clear its support for a joint cetacean sightings database, but a consensus on this wasn't reached at the gathering.
"It's a pity that we didn't succeed on that proposal, but all State-funded projects are going to have to lodge copies of findings with the Heritage Council's national biological records centre in Waterford," Dr Berrow commented. In the meantime, there will be informal exchanges of information among participants in a new marine mammal working group being established with Dr Dave McGrath of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT).
Blowholes and footprints: how to spot dolphins and whales
With over 5,000km of indented coastline and relative proximity to deep ocean waters beyond the continental shelf, Ireland boasts "some of the best whale and dolphin watching anywhere in the world", according to Jim Wilson's new guide. Yet, he says, "many people find it difficult to believe that it is possible to see fin and humpback whales from Irish headlands".
Wilson has been involved in the conservation and promotion of Ireland's natural heritage for more than three decades, through his work as a natural history film-maker, writer, broadcaster and member of the IWDG. His collaborator, Dr Simon Berrow, has been carrying out research on cetaceans here since 1988 and is a founder member and the current co-ordinator of the IWDG.
The pocket-sized book describes and illustrates all 24 species recorded here, along with three additional species identified in British waters. It lists some 44 watching locations and gives tips on equipment, weather and clothing. It outlines key indicators, such as flocks of feeding seabirds, wave patterns, and how to make out a "blow" or a "footprint" left on the sea surface by a diving mammal. And it carries tips on what to do if one encounters a live or dead stranding.
A Guide to the Identification of the Whales and Dolphin of Ireland is on sale now (€12.99) See the IWDG website, www.iwdg.ie