ORCA Marine Mammal Surveyors back in the Hebrides

Our network includes routes through rich areas for marine wildlife. We have been working in partnership with ORCA to record sightings of marine life, helping to identify important habitats, species distribution, numbers, and behaviours.

ORCA is conducting distance sampling surveys on five of our routes in 2022:

• Uig (Isle of Skye) to Tarbert (Isle of Harris) and Lochmaddy (North Uist) on board MV Hebrides
• Ullapool to Stornoway (Isle of Lewis) on board MV Loch Seaforth
• Ardrossan to Campeltown on board MV Isle of Arran
• Oban to Castlebay (Barra) on board MV Isle of Lewis
• Oban to Tiree, Coll, and Colonsay on board MV Clansman

Usually a team of four Marine Mammal Surveyors conduct surveys on the bridge, taking it in turns to swap between four roles every 30 minutes:

• One person stands on the port side scanning for marine mammals
• One person stands on the starboard side scanning for marine mammals
• One person is responsible for recording all the environmental conditions and weather changes and takes an effort reading every 30 minutes
• One person is on rest

A big range of species can be seen on our network across the west coast of Scotland. So far, minke whales, common dolphins, harbour porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, and even killer whales have been seen from the ferries, along with a brilliant array of seabirds such as puffins, gannets, and eagles.

How to get involved

Volunteering as a Marine Mammal Surveyor gives people the opportunity to learn new skills in wildlife surveying, to meet like-minded people, and to travel and see beautiful wildlife-rich places, all whilst helping to collect vital data which is used to protect marine mammals and their habitats. 

Find out how you can become an ORCA Marine Mammal Surveyor on ORCA's website