Entries by Sue Rocca

Vanessa Williams-Grey continues to Wow us with the amazing whales and dolphins of Sri Lanka, in this her second blog of Sri Lankan whale watching. Be sure to check her introduction to the whale watching community as well.

Saturday 2^nd March: Another blazing hot day. We spent 8 hours at sea, again traveling far inside the shipping lanes as these deep waters also contain nutrient-rich upwellings and so quite naturally attract the whales to feed here. It was quite sobering to be aboard a small boat, maybe 12-15 nautical miles from land, and watch massive container ships transiting these waters at some speed. We felt quite vulnerable and were grateful for the skill of our skipper but it was easy to appreciate that the largest creature on Earth is also vulnerable in the face of these giant vessels. Tragically, both blue whales and sperm whales are struck with shocking regularity.

Sightings today included 6 blue whales, a Bryde’s whale, another large pod of spinners (100-200), plus smaller numbers of bottlenose dolphins and Risso’s (this latter species is also known locally as a ‘dragon dolphin’ and was pointed out thus by our skipper). Today’s ‘souvenir’ was an old water bottle filled with bright red blue whale poo, collected for later analysis by our naturalist, Anoma!

Sunday 3^rd March: More blue whales - at least 5 and as many as ten, all within the shipping lanes - plus many more dolphins. Some locals have expressed the belief that the whale watch boats need to travel further to find the whales than they did a year or so ago and this is cited by some as evidence that the whales have been displaced offshore and forced to move further into the shipping lanes. Others contend that the whales have always been found there: either way, the presence of endangered whales – and whale watch boats full of passengers – within some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes surely flags up the need for great care to be taken to ensure the safety of all concerned.

Monday 4^th March: An early visit from 5 exuberant bottlenose dolphins whetted everyone’s appetite but a sightings lull seemed never ending as eyes strained over a stubbornly whale-less sea. Just as we were starting to feel a little despondent, the noisy exhalation of a blue whale pierced the sea mist and the next hour was spent in the company of half a dozen blue whales, rising and falling lazily about 100 m off our vessel.

As if to apologise for the delay in proceedings, around 200 spinners leapt and twirled as a finale as the boat headed back to port, escorted much of the way by flying fish.

Back ashore and time for reflection and further discussions with the local community. These waters are clearly teeming with whales and dolphins - and whale watching here has undoubtedly improved in the past year or so - but there is still much to be done in order to raise standards across the board and reduce the discrepancy between operators. WDC has long encouraged community-based whale watching in different parts of the world and here at Mirissa, whale watching has offered a beacon of hope to a village devastated by the 2004 tsunami. This tiny community has proved its resilience and, time and again, we heard a real willingness to do the right thing. We’ve been invited to run training workshops for operators and naturalist guides, advise on outreach to tourists, and develop educational resources to add value to trips. We will also input to initiatives to reduce ship strikes in the region. I feel very positive about the future of whale watching here. Our message is a simple one: look after your whales and they will look after you.

Vanessa Williams-Grey, WDC's responsible whale watching lead, is currently in Sri Lanka working with the country's burgeoning whale watching industry. Here we follow her travels and her work to put best practices into place. 

Believe me, I’m as surprised as anyone to find myself writing about blue whales from what can only be described as possibly the best ‘outdoor office’ in the world. I’ve rigged up my laptop so that I can sit, swinging precariously - and thus typing equally precariously - from a hammock slung between two palm trees, barely metres from the ocean. My ears are full of the sound of waves crashing and the guttural squarks of birds flying from tree to tree. It’s green here, very green, and each evening, the air is heady with the scent of frangipani, whilst at dawn, stilt fishermen take up their positions perched atop impossibly flimsy-looking wooden poles in the ocean outside our villa.

Welcome to Mirissa, southern Sri Lanka. We are staying for a week as guests of Sri Lankan Airlines and their tourism partners, Jetwing Hotels and John Keells Group, as we embark on a joint project to engage with the local whale watching community and – hopefully – work together to make whale watching here as good as it possibly can be. Because, despite appearances, all has not been entirely well in Paradise.

This beautiful island is starting to recover after decades of turmoil and tourists are once more flocking here to enjoy beaches and temples, tea plantations and wildlife. But like everywhere, it can be a case of too much, too soon and this has arguably been the case for much of the wildlife tourism that has mushroomed here over the past handful of years.

Whale watching started at Mirissa only 4 years ago but demand is such that nowadays, 20-25 boats ply these waters. Whilst some operators are extremely responsible and use custom-made whale watching vessels, others have diversified from fishing and have adapted their boats to varying standards. Behaviour on the water in recent years has varied widely as well and the better operators have suffered due to the behaviour of others who have approached too fast, crowded the whales or lingered too long.

This has meant good exposure for Mirissa’s whales and dolphins, but mixed press – and sometimes downright bad reviews – for its whale watching industry. And that is a pity, because this region has the potential to offer some of the best whale watching anywhere in the world. For a start, it can count both blue and sperm whales amongst its local residents.

Sri Lanka, as a whole, can currently boast a tally of 27 cetacean species and many of these are found off Mirissa with almost indecent ease. I’ve worked for WDC for over two decades and have been lucky enough to experience whale watching in many parts of the world, but I’ve never seen a blue whale and was desperately keen to do so. I was buoyed up by reports that the sightings rate for blues off Mirissa in season (December-April) is around 90% - but in some ways, this only added to the pressure….

Our first day on the water: (March 1st)

Within an hour of leaving the harbour at Mirissa with its brightly-coloured tangle of yellow and red fishing vessels and whale watch boats and obligatory band of stray dogs, we encountered a large pod of maybe 150+ spinner dolphins, and seemingly minutes later, we were enjoying our first sighting of blue whales.

Many people report that their first encounter with a blue whale involves two things: superlatives and tears......and I was no exception. It is hard to describe the rush of sheer adrenalin and emotion as this massive, massive creature blows and then slowly surfaces, arcing lazily – and seemingly endlessly – through the water, displaying its ridiculously out-of-proportion dorsal (a short stub of a thing, perched three-quarters of the way down its immense back)

and maybe fluking up for a deeper dive. We met at least 6 different blue whales that day and maybe as many as 8, over half a dozen good encounters. One female was shadowed by a very small calf, giving credence to the belief that the whales may give birth in these waters, making them even more important. At one point, it felt like we were surrounded by blows, as there were two pairs of blue whales as well as a lone individual in the vicinity at the same time, seemingly quite relaxed around our vessel.

Vanessa spent few days on the water, we'll be following up with more amazing updates from her - so be sure and check back for more Sri Lanka whale watching.

To continue on with the adoptable whales, Regina Asmutis Silvia - WDCS Senior Biologist, tell us about another humpback.

Reflection. Noun, re·flec·tion (ri-flek-shuhn): (a) A returned image, as in a mirror. (b) A thought or consideration, a remembrance. (c) A well-traveled, humpback whale, mother of three.

Perhaps the dictionary left out definition (c), but that what we at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society thinks of when we hear the name Reflection. Reflection was named for her very symmetrical fluke (tail) pattern, one side appearing as a reflection of the other. But her name has come to mean more to us. She is a reflection, or remembrance, of science, of management, and of whales at risk. But she is also a symbol of hope.

Gulf of Maine humpbacks, like Reflection, feed in the cold North Atlantic waters off the New England and Canadian coasts during the summer. In the fall, these whales leave for the warmer waters of the West Indies where they will mate and calve. Of particular importance are the waters off the Dominican Republic including Silver Bank, Navidad
Bank and the mouth of Samana Bay. Silver Bank is one of the largest breeding areas for humpbacks in the North Atlantic.

We’re not exactly sure how old Reflection is, but the first documented sighting of her was from Silver Bank 1992. She next showed up in 1995, feeding off of Virginia Beach where she appeared as part of a growing number of humpback whales wintering in the waters off the Mid-Atlantic of the United States, a risky stop-over for young whales given the high density of vessel traffic and fishing gear. Luckily, she survived and,
as an adult, became a visitor to the waters off of Massachusetts where we have seen her regularly since 1997.


For more than 10 years we have watched her be a doting mother to three calves- Buzzard (2000); Spiral (2007) and her youngest, yet to be named, in 2009. We can tell her apart at a distance from her own very stylish kick feeding technique, a subtle head nod before each kick. And, quite honestly, at times, she can be a pain the stern! On one particular research cruise, she seemed to constantly be there, no matter where were surveying. It became a joke after a while when each time we thought we were photographing a new whale, it was just Reflection, “again”. Perhaps that’s part of the reason we have 546 pictures of her in our database.

But we’ve also watched her survive two entanglements with fishing gear: a minor entanglement in monofilament in 2001; and a life-threatening entanglement in 2003 when she was anchored in fishing gear off of Cape Cod. Were it not for the heroic efforts of the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Team, she may not be with us today.

And we are working to make sure Reflection and her calves stay with us. WDCS has been actively working to protect humpback whales in the North Atlantic by reducing their risk of entanglement and ship strikes. We are promoting responsible whale watching and we are working to increase habitat protection. Our work to protect Reflection is, in fact, a “reflection” of the efforts, care and compassion of our supporters. And for that, we are thankful.



Reflection was frequently seen, kick-feeding. Kick feeding is a technique that some humpbacks utilize to help school fish where they slam their fluke, or tail, on the surface, dives under the disturbed area, emits bubbles, and scoops up more than 500 gallons of water and fish with her lower jaw. Reflection adds her own twist to it, with a
subtle head raise before she kicks. Like all baleen whales, she doesn’t drink salt water but uses her baleen as a strainer to catch the fish. While some whales seem to feed in cooperative groups, Reflection seems fairly independent and is often seen kick feeding on her own.

But independent or not, everyone needs a little help. You can help WDCS protect whales by adopting Reflection.

For a Holiday look at adoptable dolphins in Moray Firth, today Charlie Phillips tells us about Rainbow the dolphin.

Rainbow (ID#31) has been known to us for a long time, Aberdeen University first identified her in 1990 and she is a lovely adult female dolphin. She has a few marks on her dorsal fin, the most noticeable is a nick about two thirds down the fin and much smaller dimples above the nick. Rainbow is also unusual in that both her jaws are the same length; most bottlenoses have a slightly shorter top jaw.

Like Pepper, Coral’s life and family tree have been marked by human interactions beginning with his mother, Silver. Silver was originally called Long John Silver because she was missing half of her tail fluke. It is thought Silver missing part of her fluke is the result of human interaction. Silver’s first calf and Coral’s older sister, Beltane, died in 1987 a year before Coral was even born. Beltane was found dead after eating mackerel contaminated by red algae and was sadly one of many who met with this fate that year.

Coral was born the following year, in 1988, and in his first year survived an attack by orca whales. Coral has several scars or rake marks on his fluke as a reminder of this terrible attack.These black lines are spaced out exactly like the orca whales teeth. These rake marks are fairly common on the tail fluke as that’s the means of propulsion to escape an attack. The orca knows that if they can damage the tail flukes, they stand a better chance of getting the whale.

At the age of three Coral suffered the loss of his mother, Silver; she was found dead on Long Island due to entanglement in fishing gear. Since then Coral has grown into a very sociable humpback often sighted swimming with other whales. In fact, he’s become so social that he was spotted accompanying a dying right whale in 2005.

The article reporting their rare association said, “They are an odd couple. A dying right whale, limping along with half a fluke and a healthy humpback swimming by her side... In March, the right whale was hit by a 42-foot recreational vessel off Cumberland Island in Georgia... When she dies, it will deepen the tragedy that has evolved over the past 10 months in which 5 percent of all reproductively active female right whales have been killed, mostly by humans”

As rare as this pair was, it was also ironic that Coral was spending time with a female who, like his mother, had lost part of her fluke due to a vessel strike. And we know that it was Coral because the tuna spotter that sighted this odd right and humpback pair took photos from above. Fortunately, Coral has some rare scaring on behind his blowhole so it was easy to identify which humpback was traveling with the injured right whale – even from above which is not the norm.

We believe this scaring occurred in the breeding grounds as a result of male rowdy behavior while competing for females.

Coral himself also became entangled in fishing gear in 2005 – he was able to free himself from that gear. He was first sighted with gear on him in October and then was seen gear-free in November. We have continued to see Coral, just as social as ever. In fact this year we saw him off of Chatham, way down on the back side of Cape Cod. You can keep up with Coral's future escapades on Twitter