Brief Outline of the Isle of Man Cetacean Survey 2007

The Survey Areas

The Survey Areas cover all Manx territorial waters out to the 12 mile limit which are under the protection and jurisdiction of the Manx Government.

That part of the Irish Sea within Manx jurisdiction has been divided up into 8 Areas, numbered 1 to 8. Each Area is 10 nautical miles wide and extends to the 12 mile limit.

Each Area contains 4 alternative survey routes, A, B, C and D, one of which will be chosen by random selection for each day’s survey. The Areas will be cyclically surveyed throughout the season.

Douglas harbour will be the port of departure for 5 of the Areas, from Area 1, NE Top, clockwise to Area 5, SW Bottom.

Peel will be the port of departure for the remaining Areas, 6, 7 and 8, from the Calf to the Point of Ayre on the western side of the Island.

Charts of the Survey Areas can be seen at the training sessions.

Typical Survey Day

Surveys can only be undertaken when the sea conditions are suitable and allow proper observation. Consequently, surveys will inevitably be cancelled or perhaps abandoned through adverse weather conditions.

Survey days which are lost will be replaced by other available days as soon as possible. The ‘Blocks’ of dates for surveys will remain fixed so that everyone knows the preferred schedule.

Survey days have been booked in blocks of 5 days to allow for the possibility of regaining lost days quickly, each block has a reserve/rest day included.

Ports of departure will be Douglas and Peel.

From the port of departure we will steam to the start of the ‘Line Transect’ route chosen at random. Steaming will take about 1.5 hours during which time we will conduct a ‘Dedicated Search’ with two observers on the fly-bridge.

At the start of the ‘Line Transect Survey – Leg 1’ we will have two new observers on the fly-bridge and an ‘Independent Observer’ in the bow of the boat. This Leg will be 10 nautical miles and will take 1 hour.

We will then steam to the start of the next ‘Line Transect’ Leg, and during that short period of steaming we will be on ‘Dedicated Search’.

Each trip will consist of 5 legs of ‘Line Transect’ surveys, each of 1 hour duration. Added to the 5 hours of Line Transect Surveying will be approximately 1.5 to 2 hours of steaming to and from the Survey lines and 1 to 1.5 hours for ID photography.

ID photography is one of the important activities to be undertaken throughout the survey days. The science behind the surveys allows us the opportunity to break-off from surveying at any time, and spend whatever time is appropriate in obtaining ID photographs of the individual animals of certain species.

These photographs will form the basis of an ID catalogue for the target species, namely, Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins and any rorqual whales like the Minke and Fin whale.

At the end of the ‘Line Transect’ surveys, the boat will steam home, and during that passage, we shall maintain a ‘Dedicated Search’ for cetaceans.

Other Species

During the cetacean surveys we will record other species. For many of the survey days, a dedicated bird survey will be undertaken by an appointed ornithologist.

Other species that will be recorded include; seals (Common and Atlantic Grey), Basking shark, Sunfish (Mola Mola) and any Leatherback turtles.

It is anticipated that additional scientific data will be collected by others, including sea surface temperatures and plankton samples.

Support of the Surveys

We are grateful to the Manx Government for their financial and technical support for this survey work.

In particular, we are grateful for the support of the Wildlife and Conservation Division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and to the Department of Tourism and Leisure (DTL).