Killer whale in the Irish Sea & Cardigan Bay

03/05/2010 16:46:42 Killer whale surprises Irish Sea watchers

May 2010. A killer whale (orca) is not what a haulage company expects to come across every day - but that's just what Woodside Haulage encountered when they took to the waters to transport drivers in two ribs from Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland to Peel on the Isle of Man.

Mark Woodside, Managing Director, was in one boat with a driver, and his cousin Robert in another, when Robert spotted what they initially thought was a basking shark 10 miles directly east of Portavogie. But it turned, unmistakably, out to be a killer whale, an unusual sight in the Irish Sea.

Mark explained: "It was an amazing sight so close to the boat. We had never seen one before and we all watched with interest as it went by."

Theirs is not the only report to the marine research charity Sea Watch of a killer whale in the Irish Sea - there have been two unconfirmed reports of a killer whale off Criccieth, in Tremadog Bay. These could possibly have been the same animal.

There have been two unconfirmed reports of a killer whale off Criccieth, in Tremadog Bay.

Sea Watch Sightings Officer Gemma Veneruso said: "Killer whales are only very occasionally seen in the Irish Sea, and if there was one at Cricceth in the Cardigan Bay that would be very rare indeed. We cannot be sure that they are connected, but it is possible that this orca was travelling further north towards the Hebrides where the species are regularly seen between May and October."

 

Photo ID
Sea Watch is appealing for people to send in pictures of the fins and markings of whales, dolphins and porpoises that they see either from land or from sea this year to photo@seawatchfoundation.org.uk so that they can be matched against pictures of known individuals in Sea Watch's national photo Id catalogue, and with regional catalogues held by other organisations.

Identifying individual orca
Gemma explained: "Orcas can often be recognised individually by the shape of their fin, nicks or markings on the fin, and the shape of the white patches on their flanks. Photographs of any orcas taken side on will help us track the movements of different individuals. We already know that Hebridean killer whales can range several hundreds of kilometres south to the west coast of Ireland and even on occasions to Cardigan Bay."

Identifying individuals helps scientists monitor their movements, and that in turn helps them to develop effective conservation policies.