Daily whale watching tours provide a perfect opportunity to collect useful data about cetaceans.
The MONICET platform, which aims to link science and the public, started in 2009 and is currently counting on the collaboration of six companies and one research center.
Terra Azul joined this collaboration since the beginning, seeing the great opportunity in contributing to the knowledge of cetaceans that can be observed in the Azores.
Example of sighting map where different species sightings are identified by different colour dots (left) and frequency graph (right)
Main data collected at sea include:
- species observed
- the best estimate of group size
- GPS position
- photos of dorsal fins and flukes
Anyone can access this information in the form of sighting maps, species frequency graphs and photo-identification catalogue.
Example of photo-identification catalogue of bottlenose dolphins
Please give a look at the site here and at the facebook page here
Currently the platform is undergoing developments in its functionalities to allow greater efficiency in data collection and enhancing the science-public interaction.
Stay tuned for more news about MONICET 🙂
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