Actualités

Two marine mammal observers from the Whale Unit, Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, SA, were able to join the M/V Hebridean Sky from Noble Caledonia, a UK-based small ship cruise company for a cruise around south Africa to Mauritius. The cruise took place over 12 days, departing Walvis Bay, in Namibia, on the evening of 21 November 2024 and arriving in Mauritius at approximately midday on the 2 December 2024. A total of 108 hours of search effort was achieved during the cruise, with an average of 9 hours per day. Seven cetacean and 19 seabird species were positively identified, with the other sightings representing unconfirmed species IDs. Other notable sightings were a Mola mola (Sunfish), flying fish (first seen on 27 November), and flying squid (29 November) that were being targeted by Sooty terns and Flesh-footed shearwaters.

Cetaceans: A total of 25 cetacean sightings were recorded during the cruise (Table 1). No cetaceans were sighted on 26 & 27 November and 1 December, most likely due to unfavourable conditions for observations (high winds, rain and overall poor visibility).  The data (effort and sighting data) were sent to IndoCet to contribute to the NeMMO initiative and will be online soon, on the NeMMO interactive map.

Seabirds: A total of 19 species of seabirds were recorded during the cruise. Two species were seen in South African (SA) waters that were considered out of range; the Brown Booby (-34.005, 26.620) and Barau’s Petrel (-32.991, 30.140). The sightings were made off the east coast of SA, in Eastern Cape waters and were reported to the South African rarities committee.

Contributors : Dr Gwenith Penry and Alannah Grobler