News

2nd ECS workshop on „Communicating marine mammal science to the general public“ After the successful first workshop at the 27th ECS in Setubal we want to continue to share educational and outreaching experiences of communicating marine mammal science to schools and to the general public. These experiences can be educational programs that support school curricula, pedagogical outreach materials such as books, videos, kits, activities and exhibitions. The workshop is open to researchers, educators, science teachers, and to the media. This year we want to focus on the theme of the conference: “Marine mammals as sentinels of a changing environment“.

  Sensational video footage Berlin/La Gomera, October 2013. Off the Canary island of La Gomera, video footage was taken for the first time showing a spectacular behavior performed by beaked whales, a less investigated cetacean taxa. A group of animals was leaping with individual whales showing very high jumps several times in a row – a behavior rarely ever observed and difficult to explain. Beaked whales are known to be shy and generally behave in an inconspicuous manner. They avoid ships, are sensitive to disturbance and spend most of their time below the surface. These less researched cetaceans dive extremely... Continue Reading

La Gomera in April/May 2013. Two incredibly intense weeks are now behind us already. This year’s MEER practical course was characterized by numerous great sightings and an incredible team spirit. On balance we had a great number of sightings because of the really good conditions.

Berlin, June 2012 M.E.E.R. has recently published a new scientific report constituting another milestone of the scientific work of our association. The report lays out the model of a marine protected area (MPA) for sustainable whale watching in the waters off La Gomera (Canary Islands).

As a follow up to a posting to MARMAM on the skin anomaly observed in a bottlenose dolphin off La Gomera (see below) we summarize the feedback by many researchers. Thanks to everyone who provided advice and suggestions. We appreciate that it is very difficult to diagnose on the basis of a photographic image. Persistent remora damage was suggested by several researchers. In Hawaii, researchers observed an individual young Tursiops with a skin “rash” that looked like the one in our photo.  Each time the animal was seen, it was with an attached remora.  In some remora species at least,... Continue Reading

Canary Islands, Aug/Sept 2011. Fish farming as the main form of aquaculture nowadays is widespread an rapidly increasing world wide. It is praised as a crucial contribution for the nutrition of the world’s human population: aquaculture already represents around one third of the global fishery’s output. On the other hand, extensive environmental damage and overfishing of the oceans (every kilo of fish ‘produced’ in aquaculture consumes 3 kilo of wild fish) have to be put on the negative side of the balance. Rarely known are the effects of the fish farming plants on wild living dolphins – for instance around... Continue Reading

Berlin, November 2011. MEER now presents its own channel on Youtube. We want to give you insights into our work and to pay homage to the beauty of whales and dolphins. Watch and enjoy the sequences showing e.g. striped dolphins riding bow waves, fighting spotted dolphins and pilot whales going crazy. Our collection is going to grow continuously from now on. Sequences of extraordinary cetacean behavior will be one main focus. More (going directly to the Youtube channel of MEER)…  

A new website (category) is dedicated to the issue of ship strikes. Detailed background information about the issue of “collisions between ships and cetaceans” is presented, including latest scientific results and recommendations. How do collisions occur? Which types of ships and which cetacean species are involved? How can ship strikes be avoided? These questions shall be answered, as far as the current knowledge allows it. The special case of the Canary Islands (where sperm whales are hit regularly) will be highlighted, and the same is true for the case of collisions between sailing vessels and cetaceans. Read more…