CONSERVATION ISSUES - SEPTEMBER 2008

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An Arctic Hooded Seal seems to dislike the cold in his native arctic waters and has twice ended up in the Canaries. Each time he has been rescued and taken to the Seal Sanctuary at Gweek.   The sanctuary was loaned an ice making machine by a firm in Ipswich.  The machine makes half a ton of ice a day for him to sit on in a bid to create an environment a bit more like his natural home, but he fled to the other end of his enclosure when they started shovelling the ice in, however the ice treatment now seems to be working, for he enjoys sitting on the ice and rubbing his nose in it  The two year old was originally rescued after being found on a beach in The Canaries in April 2007.  Malnourished and bald he was nursed back to health at Gweek and released last October after being transported by road, sea and air, back to his natural habitat. They are now considering giving him a permanent home at the sanctuary.  

Several Portuguese-man-of-war, Physalia physalia,  have turned up this year, both washed up on beaches and alive just offshore. These are not Jellyfish, but Siphonophores, they are free swimming or floating hydrozoan colonies of numerous polymorphic polyps, feeding polyps, stinging polyps and reproductive polyps clustered beneath a float or swimming bell. Most are pelagic, oceanic animals which are occasionally driven ashore by strong winds. The distinctive oval float with its pleated crest make this large siphonophore immediately recognisable. The fishing polyps may be tens of metres in length and their batteries of powerful nematocysts are extremely dangerous to humans. You do not want to be stung by one of these at any time, and  particularly whilst diving.

A female Bottlenose Dolphin became trapped behind a marine lock back in the early 1980s at Adelaide Australia and was unable to return to the open sea. She was captured and taken to the local dolphinariun. She was kept there for three weeks while she was given a medical check and tagged before being released to the wild. Billy, as she was named, was not taught any tricks whilst in the dolphinarium  but she seemed to have learned at least one from her cell mates while she was there, for since she returned to her pod she has been tail walking like the captive dolphins and it is apparent that some of her pod has picked up the trick from her and are doing it in the wild off Adelaide.

Basking Sharks were seen all around the coast from Port Issac on the north coast to Falmouth on the south during August with 50 reported sightings. The largest number in one place was 25 off Sennen on the 27th. Ocean Sunfish were the second largest number of sightings with 27 reports and an even wider range of sightings from Trevose Head on the north coast to Cawsand, Plymouth Sound on the south. 21 Sightings of Harbour Porpoise were confined to the west country from Pendeen to Helford area with 21 reports. Common Dolphins were seen 12 times from Pendeen to The Lizard, and Bottlenose Dolphins 11 reports from Penzance to St Ives. 7 of these reports were of the pod of 7 to 9 dolphins all in the St. Ives area and the other three were of the group of three, Cookies group.

There were 4 reports of Risso's Dolphin from Port Issac to Dodman. There were 6 other reports of unidentified dolphins close inshore between Penzance and St.Ives which were probably Bottlenose Dolphins. A Striped Dolphin stranded alive at Daymer Bay but it was a very sick animal and was put down. A Humpback Whale was seen to breach off Cadgwith and a Pilot Whale was seen in Mounts Bay. Portuguese-man-of-war were seen off Tregonhawke, Whitsand Bay on the 27th and in Mounts Bay on the 30th.     

Conservation Officer: Raymond Dennis

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