In February there were four WiSe courses run in Scotland, from Stornoway to Lerwick, in conjunction with our partners Wild Scotland, and with financial support from Scottish Natural Heritage . These courses were unique as they were the first to be delivered entirely by our new generation of instructors, and they were well attended and received - so congratulations and thanks to David Ainsley, Richard Fairbairns and Myles Farnbank for their hard work. Other courses are currently being planned, and we shall be running a WiSe master class this year for operators who are interested in incorporating soft science elements to their cruises, such as photo-identification and data recording – this has been made possible by the support of the Born Free Foundation, who have backed us since 2001.
In March, Lou was invited to present a paper at the East African Petroleum Conference in Mombasa, Kenya. This was entitled ‘Challenges and Benefits of Effective Environmental Assessment of Impacts’. Building on her experiences working in Uganda over the last four years, it was an opportunity to engage with a regional audience of government officials and oil companies. As this was a Petroleum Conference, environmental issues were unfortunately compressed into one single session, but Lou’s session was very well attended and question time ran well into break time! Published conference proceedings will follow, and we’ll link from our site. Follow-up work looks interesting, and Lou is continuing new dialogue with contacts in Tanzania and Norway.
Whilst in Kenya, we both did some charity strategic development work with Carol and Peter Hardman on behalf of the Vipingo Village Fund. The Fund is seeking to construct and maintain a new nursery school for AIDS infected and affected children, and the Hardmans are working incredibly hard to create quality educational opportunities and raise awareness of the plight of these AIDS orphans. They are building their website (with frustratingly slow web-developers) but we'll link to it when its ready.
Colin has recently finished the new research report for Scottish Natural Heritage “Basking Shark Hotspots on the West Coast of Scotland”, co-authored by Lou who did most of the number crunching and editing, and Dr Matt Witt of Exeter University who did an excellent job of the GIS mapping and graphic analysis. Now completed, submitted and accepted, this report will be accompanied by a Trend Note and awareness raising poster maps of the hotspot areas identified during our work with the Wildlife Trusts’ Basking Shark Project between 2002/2006. We’ll provide a link from our site when it’s published – watch this space. A summary of last year’s Natural England Research Report is also available as a download.
Sharks are on our minds at the moment, as the summer approaches (as you can see from our photo, trialling our new cruising chute). We have decided that we definitely want to have at least a couple of months in the Hebrides before we go anywhere else, so sailing north will be happening very soon. Whilst in Scottish waters, we’ll be undertaking a scoping study, looking at the potential for any additional basking shark hotspot locations with help from our long-term supporters at the Shark Foundation. If successful, this could pave the way for future research at sites too remote to visit during our previous surveys. Our return to the Sea of the Hebrides is not just for scientific and sentimental reasons, but also to undertake background research on a book Colin has been building (basking sharks, of course!). We’re also both very much looking forward to replenishing our photo library after far too long ashore.Lou has initiated the development of a DVD based training programme on behalf of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Uganda. This will be a tool allowing professionals involved in the Environmental Impact Assessment process to gain an understanding of the environmental issues and appropriate mitigation actions associated with oil development. Oil companies in Uganda have continued to score a 100% success rate in their exploration drilling, and the government is very keen to start production as soon as feasibly possible. Therefore, building the capacity of the government agencies, NGO’s and EIA practitioners further is increasingly urgent to minimise the potential for major impacts in such a biodiversity-rich area of Africa.
Whilst in Scotland, Colin will for the second year give a wildlife briefing to the skippers participating in the hugely popular Classic Malts Cruise, a sailing cruise in the Western Isles taking in the distilleries at Oban, Lagavulin and Talisker. Like last year, we'll provided a copy of our “WiSe way to Watch Wildlife” DVD (available on You Tube) to every one of the participating boats, with the addition that each boat will receive an ID sheet and sightings recording form from our friends at the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, to form a simple survey of what the crews encounter during this years event. The organisers of the event, World Cruising Ltd have very generously supported this with a prize draw for all reports received at the end of the event, which should ensure that all forms get filled out and handed in!
In August we’ll both be attending an International Basking Shark Conference on the Isle of Man, where we shall present a paper on the outcomes from the shark survey work in Scotland. This promises to be a really exciting event, with a wide variety of speakers from around the world taking part.
Finally, Colin has been asked to be a judge for a sailing and environment photo competition run by The Green Blue. Entitled “The Good, the Bad and the Funny” it is hoped that this will encourage more and more sailors to support the initiatives of The Green Blue. There are some great prizes (including a Canon camera), and the prize-winners will see their images published in the RYA magazine. Entries are already coming in, and the season hasn’t even started yet, so why not download your entry form at The Green Blue site and start taking pictures?
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