Cetaceans, pinnipeds and other animals September-November 1990

The number of cetaceans seen this autumn was so large, that it is impossible to sum them all up in this report. A total number of 423 whales, dolphins and porpoises was spotted (138 sightings), mainly in the northwestern and western North Sea (off the Scottish and English coast) during ship-based surveys. The sightings are mapped in figure 1 (northwestern North Sea) and 2 (standard region: southern North Sea). Only one cetacean was spotted during seawatching in Camperduin (Bottlenosed Dolphin, 15 Sep 90, NH). An interesting record were some 25 Whitebeaked Dolphins, 12 miles off Camperduin, playing around with small sports-fishing boats (7 Nov 90, HS), while another 4 were seen late October far to the south in Eurogeul (24 Oct 90, MFL). An unidentified dolphin was spotted off Zeeland (23 Oct 90, MFL). An interesting sighting of Harbour Porpoises were 42 individuals seen off BlSvandshuk (Denmark) in one fast swimming group (17 Oct 90, CJC, EVK). All the remaining cetaceans were seen during the September cruises off the English and Scottish coast (4-19 Sep 90, CJC, MFL, PW). Rare were sightings of 2 Risso’s Dolphins (10 Sep 90) and 2 White-sided Dolphins (12 Sep 90), while 3 Bottlenosed Dolphins in Moray Firth probably belonged to the local stock (5 Sep 90). In addition to the remarks dealing with the possible ’warm-water species’ influx (Sula 4(3)), two sightings of unidentified sea turtles are worth to be mentioned (12 Sep 90, off E England, PW. MFL). A summary of the cetacean species, numbers, number of sightings and average and maximum herd size is presented in the following table. Information from: B. Couperus (BC), C.J. Camphuysen (CJC), N. van der Ham (NH), E.V. Koopman (EVK), M.F. Leopold (MFL), H. Steenhuis (HS), P.A. Wolf (PW).