Do dolphins secretly live off North East coast?

Feb 1 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

A PROJECT has been launched to find out if the waters off the Northumberland coast are a secret dolphin stronghold.

The white-beaked dolphin is a little studied species which occurs around the coast of the UK and is vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

It lives in the cold waters of the northern Atlantic and its available habitat is thought to be shrinking.

The North East venture will provide data to help the animals and will also contribute to the goal of expanding eco-tourism in the region.

The project, which will run until March, is being funded with £17,000 from Natural England and £1,000 from the Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club.

It will concentrate on white- beaked dolphins and other species in the rarely studied Farne Deeps off Northumberland. There will also be surveys by boat from the mouth of the Tyne to Lindisfarne.

The trips will go out as far as 20 miles offshore and will also log seabird sightings.

The project partnership includes the charity Marinelife, Natural England, the Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club, the University of Aberdeen, and Northern Experience Wildlife Tours which is run by Dr Martin Kitching, based at Choppington in Northumberland.

Dr Kitching , who is lead surveyor, is current author of the annual report, Birds in Northumberland.

“The area off the Northumberland coast should be a major wintering ground for white-beaked dolphins, ” he said. “What we find could help open up Northumberland for eco-tourism and it also provides a real opportunity to define the North Sea off Northumberland as an important area for conservation efforts”.