Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Cetaceans in the North Sea

Martin Kitching, Northern Experience

Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) number around 90 species worldwide, with 20 of those having occurred off the coast of Northumberland in North East England; an area not previously renowned for its marine mammals other than the impressive Grey Seal population of the Farne Islands.  The majority of those 20 are rare or scarce so this lecture will focus primarily on the four most frequently recorded species: Bottlenose Dolphin, White-beaked Dolphin, Minke Whale and Harbour Porpoise.  Much of what we now know about cetacean occurrence in the North Sea is derived from observations undertaken by citizen scientists over the last 15 years, with topics to be covered including photo-identification as a non-invasive research tool, the power of social media to highlight changes in distribution of some of our most iconic marine megafauna, the expansion in range of the Moray Firth Bottlenose Dolphin population, and the complexity of marine conservation.

7pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum

Image: Martin Kitching