Report of Activites during
2000-2001 Field Season
Contents
Introduction
Surveys in the 2000-2001 field season
Inventory of data and samples collected in the
2000-2001 field season
Public awareness and dissemination of information
Website
Local participation and training
Financial Accounting
Data and results
2001-2002 field season
(Use ^^ to jump back to the contents)
Introduction ^^
The year 2000 marked the start of a new initiative in whale and dolphin research in
Oman. The Oman Whale and Dolphin Research Group, a group of volunteer scientists, gained
official approval from the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Environment, enabling
them to conduct more focused research on the whales and dolphins found in the Sultanate of
Oman. A grant from the Ford Motor Company helped to get the project off the ground, and as
it gathered momentum, a number of local businesses made important contributions to
facilitate the research. PDO and Salalah Port Services provided a boat, fuel, logistic
support and accommodation. Emirates Airlines, Kenya Airways, Oman Air and KLM sponsored
travel for visiting scientists and conference attendance. Truck Oman transported the
research boat and equipment between Muscat and Salalah. DHL, Mark Rental Cars and WS
Atkins donated their services and a number of companies, including OHI Marine, Tawoos,
Veritas Geophysical, Oman LNG, Muscat Pharmacy, Elcome International, Cameron, and Tarmac
Alawi donated goods and equipment
 |
- Whale vertebra discovered on dune - |
With this valuable support, the researchers were able to enlist the help of
internationally renowned whale and dolphin experts on a number of surveys between February
2000 and June 2001. In between these planned surveys, members of the research group
carried out opportunistic work in the Muscat area, taking every possible opportunity to
survey beaches or carry out boat-based observations. They have also developed a website,
attended conferences and open-days and published articles in local media to raise local
awareness and encourage members of the public to become involved in cetacean research by
reporting their sightings of live, entangled or stranded animals.
This report is intended to provide sponsors and other interested parties with
information on the group's activities during the 2000-2001 field season.
Surveys in the 2000-2001 field
season ^^
- Khaluf - Barr al Hikman, October 2000
 |
- Measuring whale mandibles (jaw bones) - |
In October 2000 the group spent seven days in the Mahoot region with a group of British
"eco-volunteers," tourists who came to Oman to participate in local conservation
efforts. The team collected over 20 dolphin skulls in four days, and measured and
photographed a number of baleen whale skulls that were too large and bulky to collect.
During the three days that sea conditions permitted boat-based surveys, several humpback
and Bryde's whales were studied and photographed. The images were the among the first to
be entered into the Sultanate's "humpback whale photo-identification catalogue,"
a collection of photographs of tail flukes and dorsal fins, which will allow researchers
to recognise individual whales if they are seen and photographed again in the future.
"Re-sights" of known individuals can give an indication of whales' seasonal
movements.
In February 2001, team was joined by Dr. Ken Findlay, a South African humpback whale
expert. Using a 6.5m rigid hulled inflatable boat donated by PDO and Salalah Port
Services, the researchers surveyed over 1000km of the coastal area between Salalah and
Hasik, including the Hallaniyat Islands. The first humpback wasn't sighted until the
fourth day of the study but the sighting was worth the wait. The whale was feeding,
confirming that the nutrient-rich Dhofari waters are an important feeding ground for this
species. More surprises were in store when it lifted its tail to dive (called 'fluking').
The researchers were stunned to recognise it as one of the animals that they had observed
two months previously in the Muscat area. This first re-sight of a previously photographed
individual also provided a first clue about the whales' movements in Oman.
Throughout the rest of the two-week study period, hundreds of dolphins, a blue whale,
20 sperm whales and ten more humpback whales were observed and photographed. The team also
recorded humpback whale song using a hydrophone donated by the Sultan's School. Male
humpbacks sing during the breeding season, and the recording provided a strong indication
that the Dhofar region serves both as a breeding area and a feeding ground. This overlap
of feeding and breeding has not yet been documented for humpback whales in any other part
of the world. They normally feed in low latitudes, near the poles, and breed in the
tropics, and the two activities are separated by several months and thousands of
kilometres.
The last humpback whale sighting of the Dhofar survey was just as exciting as the
first, as this whale treated the observers to the spectacle of a breach (a leap into the
air). Nothing compares to the thrill of watching a 20-ton creature launch itself out of
the water, slowly arch to the side and thunderously splash back down. For the researchers,
this act had the added scientific value of providing skin samples for genetic analysis.
Following these types of high-energy activities, it is possible to use a sieve to scoop up
sheets of skin that are shed as the whale splashes down through the water. Like the skin
samples collected from dead animals on beaches, these will be sent to laboratories in the
United States for detailed genetic analysis that should reveal whether Oman's humpback
whales are related to other populations in the Indian Ocean
 |
- Shore based observation, Duqm - |
In March, a short research trip to the Ras al Hadd area, facilitated by Oman LNG,
yielded valuable observations of dolphins at sea, as well as the opportunity to survey
some remote beaches for cetacean remains. A number of skulls were collected for the Oman
Natural History Museum, including two relatively rare dwarf sperm whale skulls (Kogia
simus) that were found wrapped in a fishing net.
In June 2001, the research team were joined again by Dr. Ken Findlay, who introduced
them to a shore-based observation technique that utilises a surveyor's theodolite
(provided by W.S.Atkins) to track the movements of whales offshore. Setting up a camp on a
high cliff, the team spent four days practising the technique. When whales and dolphins
were sighted, the team used the theodolite to accurately record the animals' positions and
direction of travel. Although some surveys using this technique have detected whales 18km
from shore, the early phases of the monsoon gave rise to hazy conditions that limited
visibility during the Duqm survey. In total, the study yielded 15 dolphin sightings, and
ten whale sightings, providing an important clue to the whales' whereabouts during a time
of year when seas are too rough for boat-based observation.
- Visiting expert, Dr. Koen Van Waerebeek, May 2001
 |
- Gianna & Dr Van Waerebeek taking beach
samples - |
In the second half of May, world renowned dolphin expert, Dr. Koen Van Waerebeek
visited Oman for the third time. During previous visits he had studied the taxonomy of
Oman's dolphins, and attended the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting, which
was held in Muscat in 1998. Over 150 skulls had been added to the Natural History Museum's
collection in the five years since he had last examined them and he declared the
collection 'one of the best in the Indo-pacific region.' Nearly every morning of his
two-week visit was spent carefully measuring and cataloguing the skulls of over 100
spinner, common, Indo-Pacific humpback, and bottlenose dolphins. These measurements will
be compared with other populations of the same species in an attempt to determine how
Omani populations are related to those elsewhere. During a brief survey of beaches in
Mahoot, Van Waerebeek also shared his expertise in working with stranded specimens,
helping the team to analyse dead dolphins and skeletal material.
Inventory of data and
samples collected in the 2000-2001 field season ^^
From January 2000 onward the Oman Whale and Dolphin Research Group has collected the
following data and samples:
Data or sample collected
|
Number |
| Skulls collected for the Oman Natural History Museum |
126 |
| Tissue samples collected for genetic analysis |
102 |
| Individual humpback whales in the Oman photo-ID catalogue |
16 |
| Sightings of live cetaceans since October 2000 |
200+ |
| Individual whale sightings |
61 |
| Humpback whale sightings |
36 |
| Whales sighted during the June shore-based survey |
10 |
Public awareness and
dissemination of information ^^
During the course of the past 18 months the research group's work has been covered in
over ten separate newspaper articles in the English and Arabic Daily newspapers. It has
also featured in several issues of PDO's "Al Fahal", and the regionally
distributed "Oman Today". Members of the team have also published articles in
the annual "Tribute" magazine and quarterly "Arabian Wildlife".
The Group attended and presented information at several local and international
gatherings, including: a PDO open day in November 2000; an international conference on
fisheries and marine resources, hosted by Sultan Qaboos University in January 2001; an
open day at Sultan Qaboos University in April 2001; a workshop on regional cooperation in
humpback whale research hosted by Cape Town University in April 2001, and a lecture
organised by the Historical Association of Oman in May 2001.
Website ^^
With the help of a dedicated volunteer "webmaster", Russell Elliott, the
group has set up it's own website: http://www.whalecoastoman.com. The website features
information on the group's activities and sponsors, as well as more general information
about cetaceans in Oman. The website is regularly updated with new photos and reports and
has received over 500 "hits" since February 2001. Visitors to the website have
come through internet providers from around the globe, including the United States, New
Zealand, South Africa, and Malaysia.
Local participation and training
^^
Members of the group talk extensively with local fishermen and community members in the
areas where they have worked. In areas that have been visited on several separate
occasions (such as the Hallaniyat Islands), researchers have shared photographs and
audiotapes with local schools.
Recently, the research group has been able to involve a student in his final year of
fisheries studies at Sultan Qaboos university, as well as an employee of the Ministry of
Agriculture and fisheries. The group plans to continue with this cooperation, and to
intensify efforts to involve more local participants and trainees in its work in the next
field season.
Financial Accounting ^^
The group has kept detailed accounts of sponsors' donations and outgoing expenses.
These accounts are reviewed twice a year by a local accounting firm, KPMG. More detailed
financial statements will be available to sponsors upon request.
Data and results ^^
The data and results of the team's studies will be presented to the Ministry of
Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources, so that these data are available
for implementation in conservation and management decisions. Although the research team is
independent, they work in close consultation with MRMEWR and have approval from the
Director General of Conservation and nature Protectorates for their research.
2001-2002 field season ^^
The next research season will run from October 2001 through June 2002 and will involve
at least two Omani recruits. This work will only be possible, however, if more funds can
be raised. A detailed research proposal and budget for the 2001-2002 field season is
available upon request.