| The following projects have so far been supported by the Dolphin Fund, from the result of the first year, 2007:
- Dolphin safe fisheries in the North Sea
- Dolphin safe fisheries in Kenya
- Rescue, rehabilitation and release of harbour porpoises in The Netherlands
- Responsible whale and dolphin tourism
- Responsible dolphinariums
- Exchange of scientific information
1) Dolphin Safe Fisheries in the North Sea
Both nature and fisheries organisations would like to decrease the numbers of dolphins that get struck into fishing nets. When fishermen have found a death dolphin in their nets they are feeling like they just killed their neighbours’ dog. One of the solutions scientists and fisheries came up with was to make pingers more available to fishermen. ‘Pingers’, are small devices that produce ultrasonic sounds. This way pingers can make the fishing nets more ‘visible’ for dolphins and sometimes scare dolphins so that they will stay away from the nets. The European Union obliges large ships (longer than 11m) to use pingers. Smaller ships are not obliged to. Dolphin Fund and EUCC-The Netherlands are cooperating with fishermen, scientists and the Dutch government to study the efficiency of pingers and improve the availability of pingers. And EUCC-The Netherlands is collaborating with Norgine and Save Wave to produce a new type of Dolphin Saver (a pinger).
2) Dolphin Safe Fisheries in Kenya
The Dolphin Fund supports a project of UNEP CMS (United Nations Environment Programme, Convention on Migratory Species) to increase sustainable fishing in Kenya. UNEP CMS, in cooperation with TUI-Pollmans and consulted by the WWF Kiunga, wants to supply fishermen in Kenyan coastal villages with dolphin-safe fishing gear, which should lead to a significant reduction of the number of dolphins killed as by-catch. The fishing gear exchange program’s main aim is to achieve sustainable fisheries resource use by phasing out illegal gear and replacing them with sustainable and legal gear. The government fisheries policy has banned the use of beach and purse seines and any small meshed nets below the mandatory 3 inches. Unfortunately due to widespread poverty, these are the nets most used. Increased understanding and participation of fishermen in conservation activities and practice will likely be another side-effect of the exchange, which will be accompanied by education and awareness. Dolphin Fund supports this project with 5000 euro, which equals 495,700 Kenya Shillings. Furthermore, CMS cooperates with the Fisheries department, representatives of the fishermen cooperative society, registered fisher group officials and Kenya Wildlife Service representatives.
3) Rescue and release of harbour porpoises
Along the Dutch coast beached harbour porpoises are rescued by volunteers of the First aid for marine mammals (EHBZ), from where further recovery and release back into the wild is taken care by SOS Dolfijn (Harderwijk). Together with Naturalis a joint website has been set up to record the numbers of strandings and information. In February 2008, Dolphin Fund announced at the volunteers stranding day in Harderwijk to support SOS Dolfijn with 10.000 euros. This amount will be used to buy dry floating suits and hanging suits for harbour porpoises, weighing machine with a pulley block to lift up and move animals, a thermometer, and suits for volunteers during the beaching period. Dolphin Fund hopes that SOS Dolfijn can continue the rescue of beached harbour porpoises and increase their changes of survival and release into the wild.
4) Responsible whale and dolphin tourism
Dolphin and whale watching trips are getting more popular every year. Although the interest and awareness for whales and dolphins is very promising, cooperating parties would like to maintain a sustainable way of observing. Too much of disturbance can lead to a decrease in reproductive success of whales and dolphins. In 2002, EUCC – The Coastal Union started to monitor the way tenders took into account the welfare of animals and other factors such as marine environment, education and research objectives. Now it is time to update this information. TUI Netherlands and Dolphin Fund develop stricter whale watching guidelines and stimulate tourists to take their own responsibility and choose for tenders that care for the whales and dolphins to be watched.
5) Responsible dolphinariums
There are at least 1500 dolphins being held in a number of 200-250 dolphinariums in the world representing about 20 different whale and dolphin species. In Europe alone, about 275 dolphins are being held in ca. 50 dolphinariums. At least two thirds of all dolphins are bottlenose dolphins, looking like Flipper. Other species are for example pilot whales, belugas, killer whales and white-sided dolphins. There is no strict control on the welfare of these animals. For this reason the tourism branch, representing operators in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, together with Dolphin Fund would like to develop a control mechanism for these dolphinariums. This way, the tourism branch wants to make clear to their tourists, which dolphinariums are good to visit.
6) Exchange of scientific information
Dolphin Fund supported the ECS Conference 2008 with 5000 euro. The conference about ‘Marine Mammals in Time’ was held in March, in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands. Information was provided about 1) past: palaeontology, archaeology, evolution, 16th-17th century whaling or research (strandings), 2) present: lab and museum basic research, taxonomy, anatomy, 18-20th century whaling and tourism, and 3) future: climate change, effects on populations and food, monitor species. In total about 450 people out of 30 countries exchanged these information to each other.
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