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Fall 2019
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BAHAMAS MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION

E-NEWS October 2019

Dear friends and supporters of BMMRO,

On the 1st September 2019 Abaco Island where the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation (BMMRO) is based, was hit by the monster hurricane Dorian, the worst storm ever recorded in the Atlantic.

BMMRO suffered minimal damage relative to the massive devastation in the areas where the eye passed over. Powered by solar and with access to running water in their community of Sandy Point, BMMRO was able to provide some overnight housing and care for evacuees from the north of the island. Our hearts go out to those who have lost so much. Once immediate humanitarian (and dog) needs lessened, BMMRO returned their focus to marine mammals. BMMRO began immediate aerial and vessel surveys to assess impacts from the storm.

Although we had a report of a stranded whale ashore, during the aerial surveys no more stranded animals were found, but a group of free-swimming dolphins was sighted in an area used regularly by them before the storm. BMMRO also flew over the oil spill at the Equinor site in Grand Bahama and were shocked by the apparent lack of resources actively cleaning the oil from the spill area. Concerns for contamination of ground water and other environmental impacts remain high.

During one of the small vessel surveys off south Abaco, BMMRO found a group of 22 dolphins feeding and socialising. In reviewing the photo identifications, we found all previously known dependent calves of females in this group survived Dorian.

Many thanks to Whale and Dolphin Conservation, private donors, and pilots Paul Harding and Valentino Collie for their support of this important work. Our assessment work of the impacts of Dorian on marine mammals is continuing, including a contaminant study of the entire marine ecosystem. We desperately need funding for this work so please donate if you can, thank you.

In life before Dorian BMMRO completed a pilot study to use a ground breaking new method to find whale DNA in water samples with Dr Scott Baker from Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute and whilst conducting this work in Andros had a wonderful encounter with killer whales - you can see a short video here (scroll down to Killer Whales).

We were also authors on a new publication using acoustics to estimate the abundance of beaked whales, and completed successful summer Whale Camps with inspiring young Bahamians.

Satellite image showing hurricane Dorian approaching Abaco Island on 1st September 2019 with an arrow showing the location of BMMRO’s research centre at the southwest tip of the island. The distance to BMMRO from the eye is ~ 50 miles in this image.
Top: Stranded Kogia on Elbow Cay reported 6th September 2019 (photo courtesy of Mari Matthews); bottom left: the skeletal remains examined by BMMRO scientists on 7th October 2019 (the earliest we could get to the animal) and bottom right: a late term foetus found in its uterus.
A map showing the tracks of two aerial surveys, an image showing Dr Claridge videoing the shoreline during one of the flights, the oil spill at the Equinor site in Grand Bahama, free-swimming dolphins seen during an aerial survey, and dolphins sighted during a vessel survey.
Beaked whales photographed at the navy base in Andros during our eDNA study.
Photo of the male killer whale seen in Andros in August as it swam under our boat.
BMMRO's wonderful 2019 Whale Campers and amazing Camp Leader, Felice Major.
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All text, video, and images are © 2019 Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation. All rights reserved.

Postal address:
P.O. Box AB-20714, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
 






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Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation · P.O. Box AB-20714 · Marsh Harbour · Bahamas

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