Humpback whales are iconic species in coastal Irish waters. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, through its https://iwdg.ie/whale-track-ireland/ project have built photo-ID catalogue spanning a 20 years. These data coupled with a strong partnership between the IWDG and GMIT are able to support a PhD student, Miguel Blázquez Hervás (see https://mfrc-atu.ie/meet-the-team/miguel-blazquez-hervas)
The project will aim to explore the use of inshore Irish waters by humpback whales including abundance estimates and residency patterns. We hope to look at impacts of whalewatching tourism, record vocalisations and use telemetry to look at foraging behaviour.
We have a strong supervisory team including Frederick Wenzel from https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/woods-hole-laboratory and Pedro López Suárez from https://bioscaboverde.com/ in Cabo Verde where Miguel will spend the Northern Hemisphere Humpback Whale breeding season. The IWDG are represented by Sightings Officer Pádraig Whooley and WhaleTrack Team Member Nick Massett.