Cetaceans and pinnipeds (southern North Sea only)

Most intriguing was the sudden appearance of a resident Bottle-nosed Dolphin Tursiops truncatus at the Brouwersdam (Zeeland) in early April. The dolphin was easy to see and performed nice leaps into the air, could be approached rather easily and was found to have its own sleeping place. A belgian person attempted to harpoon the animal but the local snackbar-owner, seeing ’his’ dolphin in immediate danger, called the police in time. A crossing of the North Sea by MV Waterproef (former MV Plancius) on 9th May in flat calm conditions resulted into a number of tens of Harbour Porpoises Phocoena phocoena in the southern North Sea. The exact locations of these sightings will be included in the next issue of Recent Reports. Also of MONO’s carried out in April and May the exact locations of 6 Harbour Porpoises (4 in April, 2 in May) on the Dutch sector of the Continental shelf are at present not available. The MV Aurelia and MV Tridens surveys in April produced four sightings of Harbour Porpoise, involving 6 individuals. All summer sightings will therefore be mapped in our autumn issue. Coastal sightings of Harbour Porpoises were scarce, but the good thing is that also this spring produced a number of them. The upward trend (none or very few were seen in the 1970s) continues. To summarize sightings this winter and spring from coastal sites in Noord-Holland (Hondsbossche Zeewering and Egmond aan Zee): early sightings in December (1 8/12, 5 26/12), one sighting in January (2 16/1), two sightings in March (1 22/3, 1 24/3), and finally one sighting in April (2 6/4).