Monitoring
The SDWF have carried out monitoring of dolphin tour boats on behalf of the National Parks and Wildlife Service since 2000. A range of indices are calculated including; time to locate dolphins, number of dolphin groups watched, number of dolphins in each group, the presence of calves and using photo-identification the individual dolphins being watched can be recorded.
The NPW are seeking to control the total time dolphin boats are in the vicinity of dolphins as this is likely to be potentially the most sensitive part of a dolphin trip to dolphins. It is hoped that monitoring indices calculated through this monitoring programme are sensitive enough to detect any change in dolphin distribution, abundance or behaviour that may be caused by tour boats before any detrimental impact occurs.
The annual monitoring reports are available below:
Shannon dolphin tour boat monitoring report 2006
Results from the Shannon dolphin tour boat monitoring carried out in 2006 on behalf of the National Parks and Wildlife Service are now available.
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27 March 2007
Planning Permission granted for Shannon LNG terminal
An Bord Plenala have granted planning permission for the construction of a 500 million liquified natural gas terminal in North Kerry.
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1 April 2008
Shannon dolphins prove alusive to tour boats during 2009 season
Dolphin Tour boat operators in the Shannon Estuary had a poor year in 2009 due to a combination of weather, poor tourist numbers but also a change in dolphin behaviour.
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6 January 2010
Shannon FM – real time streaming of the sounds from the Shannon Estuary on the internet
A new project funded by the Environment Protection Agency in the Shannon Estuary which enables you to listen to the sounds of the Shannon Estuary has recently gone live.
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2 August 2012
Bottlenose dolphin Research Assistants Required by SDWF
SDWF are looking for research assistants to work on the Shannon dolphins during 2013 season
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8 March 2013
Berrow, S. and Counihan, R. Shannon dolphin tour boat monitoring report - 2007
Download PDF file (205 KB)
Berrow, S., & Atkinson, J. (2006) Shannon dolphin tour boat monitoring -2006
Download PDF file (214 KB)
Berrow, S., Young, A. & Atkinson, J. (2005) Tour boat monitoring report 2005
Download PDF file (217 KB)
Berrow, S & O'Brien, J. (2003) Shannon dolphin tour boat monitoring report – 2003
Download PDF file (145 KB)
Berrow, S.D. and Downes, S. (2002) Shannon dolphin tour boat monitoring report – 2002.
Download PDF file (69 KB)
Berrow, S.D. and Groth, L. (2001) Dolphin tour boat monitoring – 2001
Download PDF file (43 KB)
Berrrow, S.D. and Ferriss, S. (2000) Dolphin tour boat monitoring - 2000.
Download PDF file (41 KB)
Note on PDF files: These files can be read using Abode Acrobat Reader, which you can download for free. To save a PDF file to your hard drive right-click the link and select Save Target As...
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