On the 01st November, the final ferry survey of 2025 with our longstanding partner Brittany Ferries departed from Poole for a return crossing to Cherbourg. Here is a summary of our surveys undertaken by our dedicated Marine Mammal Surveyors on board Brittany Ferries vessels this year:
- 3,388 individual animals recorded in 2025. This is more than 234 fewer animals seen in 2024 (3,622), highlighting the importance of the year on year, continued monitoring by ORCA, with trends and shifts in distribution being reported on in real-time which is critically important for cetacean conservation
- 16 different marine species seen, including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, fish, sharks and turtles - this is 1 more than in 2024
- A distance of 12,810 km was travelled whilst surveying - over 1,000 km more than 2024 and is the furthest travelled surveying since our partnership began
- 42 surveys were conducted between March and November
- 168 ORCA volunteer Marine Mammal Surveyors, from across the UK and from France, the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland conducted these important surveys
- Common dolphins were the species recorded most frequently with 2,691 individuals recorded. Common dolphins were seen throughout the year and on every route, with some large aggregations of feeding dolphins with tuna and diving birds seen throughout the English Channel and along the continental shelf edge and slope in the Bay of Biscay
- Surveys were conducted for the first time on the Portsmouth-Santander and Portsmouth-St Malo routes - helping to give a thorough surveying coverage of the English Channel which is essential for helping the UK Government meet it's obligations under the Habitats Directive
- Survey highlights include 263 individual animals from 7 different species being recorded on a single survey in September on the Portsmouth-Santander route
- This year the Bay of Biscay was noticeably quiet for all marine wildlife - cetaceans, fish and birds. With our long-term monitoring of this region, which is usually brimming with wildlife, thanks to the yearly surveys conducted from Brittany Ferries vessels, we are able to be alerted to these changes in real-time and to investigate them further to ascertain if this is just an anomaly year or if there is something more serious impacting the wildlife of the region
A massive thank you all of our dedicated Marine Mammal Surveyors who took part in surveys on our Brittany Ferries routes during 2025!
We are busy planning for the 2026 survey season and applications for our ferry surveys will be open in the New Year. As always, we will continue to keep you updated on the progress of this via email and the Surveyor Network News Page.