domingo, 5 de enero de 2014

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)  Catalog of the National Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic 2000 to 2013

The Center for Conservation and Eco-development of the Bay of Samaná and its Environment (CEBSE) and the Samaná Bay Boat Owners Association (ASDUBAHISA) have joined forces in order to produce the Humpback Whale Catalog of the National Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic. We would like to present the first edition, with more than 900 individual humpback whales, photographed between the years 2000 and 2013, including Samaná Bay and Silver Bank.

Since 1999, CEBSE has coordinated a humpback whale data collection program aboard commercial whale watch vessels with the support of ASDUBAHISA. This program has involved national and international researchers together with local students and volunteers from all over the world. The product of this effort involving hundreds of data collectors, more than 1900 trips in Samana Bay alone, more than 3800 documented sightings of humpbacks in the extreme Northeast of the bay, the Eastern border of the Samaná Peninsula and adjacent oceanic waters. This information has provided the database for the creation of this catalog in collaboration with the Conscious Breath Adventures team on Silver Bank.

Become a collaborator and help protect humpbacks whales

You can collaborate with humpback whale research by sending copies of the tails of any humpback whales you have photographed here in the National Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic. CEBSE has documented almost 1000 individual humpbacks and each new individual whale added to the catalog enables us to better understand these animals and this information assists in their conservation. Photographs can be sent to the following address: cebsesamana@gmail.com.

We would also like to invite researchers, naturalists and visitors to compare their photographs taken in the Sanctuary with the photographs of individuals in our catalog in order to exchange information on re-sightings of individuals in the same year, other years or distinct areas in the North Atlantic. We would appreciate information on date, time location where the individual was photographed to include in our data base.

Thanks for your participation.

LINKS TO THE CATALOG
Catalog 1