The Citizen Fins project is allowing us to monitor animals in the East coast population, particularly along the coastline to the south of our dedicated survey areas around the Tay estuary, St Andrews Bay and the Firth of Forth. One challenge with photo-ID studies is correctly identifying animals which have not been seen for several years, new marks, nicks and notches can accumulate and others fade and heal over time. Animals may have been missed on surveys in a particular season but may also be occupying areas predominantly outside the surveyed area, making it difficult to record minor changes to distinctive markings. Photos submitted to Citizen Fins not only allow us to keep a track of the animals’ movement along the coastline throughout their range, but also to track changes to their markings accumulated over time. This enables us to confirm that specific individuals are still alive and correctly assign the identity of mothers to new-born calves.
An animal numbered #1116 in our catalogue, was first encountered back in 2010 in the Tay estuary area and was repeatedly seen again over the next few years in the Tayside area, St Andrews Bay and a little further south in the Firth of Forth. After the 2017 survey season we had not seen this individual for over three years until it showed up during one of the last SMRU surveys of the 2021 season in the Tay estuary looking quite different! During this time the animal had acquired many new markings and a distinctive notch on the dorsal fin, however with some detective work and help from our colleagues at the Aberdeen University Lighthouse Field Station it was possible to match it to photos of #1116 take in 2017.
Photos submitted to Citizen Fins in late 2021/early 2022 by Stuart Baines from the Scarborough Porpoise Facebook group have revealed that this animal’s range appears to have expanded southward along the English coastline. Sightings from Scarborough and Flamborough head demonstrate just how far these animals can travel over just a few months and give us an insight into how these animals move in the winter months when we ourselves are off the water. These great pictures also allow us to keep any eye on how the animals markings have changed so that we will be able to match it in future submissions to Citizen Fins.
Soon we will be starting photo-ID surveys again to see which animals are using the Tay, St Andrews and Firth of Forth Areas in 2022. Thank you to all those who have submitted photos over the winter, we look forward to submissions via the form on our website year-round. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at: [email protected].