Dolphins are highly sensitive, and intelligent creatures. They are also wild animals, so by respecting and following these simple rules you can make sure both yourselves and the whales and dolphins will not come to any harm when they visit us.

• Dolphin watching should be eyes only.

• Do not scatter a pod of whales or dolphins.

• 200m should be kept between you, your boat and the animals.

• Do not drive your boat towards them, only approach from behind.

• Otherwise if you are unsure of the direction they are travelling in, stop.

• 15 minutes is the longest you should spend near the animals.

• Never chase whales or dolphins.

• Be especially careful around mothers and their young.

• Maintain a steady speed if the dolphins do bow ride.

Strandings

Contact the appropriate authorities immediately.

This should be The Seashore Centre, R.S.P.C.A., British Marine Life Rescue, or The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

If possible when reporting a stranding by supplying the following information would insure quicker response time, and a greater chance of foreseeing any problems that could be encountered.

• Give the location of the beach.

• The position of the dolphin on the beach, e.g. on the rocks, on the sand or on a mudflat.

• Give details of the nearest entrance

• Is the tide coming in or out.

• What the level of disturbance is, e.g. how many people, dogs are on the beach.

• Is there a town nearby
   

Keep the animals skin moist.
Shade it from the hot sun.
Keep onlookers and dogs far away.
Keep the animal upright.
Do not cover the blowhole.
Prevent water and sand entering the blowhole.
Never pull the flippers, flukes or head.
Don’t stand close to the tail or head.
Only touch the animal when absolutely necessary.
 

Over the years many dolphins, porpoise and basking sharks have been seen within the Torbay area. The dolphins are part of a group thought to consist of 57 individuals that have been seen up and down the South West Coast, from Dorset to Cornwall.

At the height of the summer Torbay is one of the largest British resorts and opens its arms to hundreds of thousands of pleasure seeking tourists each year. In Paignton alone, the resident population rises from 30,000 to 120,000 and over the season Goodrington Sands takes in an average of 975,000 people each year, and the numbers are getting bigger each year.

The Dolphin and Marine Awareness project has been set up to educate both locals and tourists in the importance of minimising disturbance caused by boats and jet skis that go out to watch them.

5 volunteers from various different backgrounds were selected to pilot the project based at the Seashore Centre in Goodrington with funding provided by the European Social Fund (ESF).

It is hoped that the project will continue into subsequent years so that as many people as possible are made aware that dolphins, porpoise and basking sharks do frequent the area and if they are harassed by boat activity too much they may never return.

In order to get our message across to as many people in the bay as possible we decided to produce both a poster for display in the seashore centre and an accompanying leaflet. So far this year the Seashore Centre has attracted in excess of 38,000 visitors and it is presumed that, as many people will see the Dolphin and Marine Awareness poster over subsequent holiday seasons. The leaflets are to be displayed along side the poster and handed out during the various Seashore Centre events. More importantly the leaflets can be handed out to the general public when cetaceans or basking sharks are in the bay, particularly to those who will be using boats.

The most important message that we want to convey in this project is not to venture too close to cetaceans or basking sharks as this causes them undue stress. On the other side of the leaflet we included information on how to identify cetaceans and basking sharks found in the Torbay area coupled with some interesting facts on each species. This sections is entitled ‘Fin Spotting in Torbay’ and was designed to arouse peoples interest and let them know what can be found here. Facing this is the ‘Weird and Wacky Facts’ page. This was designed to further grab people’s attention with some more quirky facts that will appeal to all age ranges.

aware ness