Hello and welcome! I’m Georgia, the Ocean Conservationist for ORCA excited to be reporting from onboard DFDS sailing the North Sea this season. Despite growing up landlocked in Northamptonshire, I’ve always had a deep fascination for life beneath the waves and have been in or on the ocean for most of my life!
Having recently worked in New Zealand, Iceland and Bermuda you might wonder what contrasts in marine life there might be residing in the North Sea. It is a typical misconception that our local waters are rather barren whilst they are in fact vibrant ecosystems home to a surprising wealth of marine life. Not only are these waters incredibly diverse but as our understanding and data grows, we are learning just how important the North Sea is for many species, including some of my favourites - cetaceans!
There are 28 species of whale, dolphin and porpoise residing in waters surrounding the UK, of these the greater North Sea region supports at least 8 different cetacean species. A further 7 species are recorded on an occasional basis. Each day we carry out wildlife surveys to identify and record our wonderful sightings using the
ORCA Ocean Watchers app (available in a variety of languages for our guests onboard to utilise!) These surveys allow us to record effort data as OC’s, recording weather, sightings coordinates and relevant information that is crucial for effective monitoring and conservation. This work allows us to work towards studying important cetacean hotspots and work towards the creation of new special areas of conservation (we currently have one designated SAC in the English North Sea for our shy porpoises!) But who are the most common visitors we are lucky enough to see regularly on our surveys? Well that would be the inconspicuous harbour porpoise, our wonderfully agile white beaked dolphins and the elusive minke whale. Of course, we can’t forget our regular sightings of grey and harbour seals; we even spotted a seal having a freshly caught fish for dinner this week! In the first four weeks of the season we have been lucky enough to encounter bottlenose dolphins, white beaked dolphins, our first minke whale of the season and many harbour porpoises!
When we aren’t looking for wildlife outside, you can come and hear all about ORCA and the work we do in the wildlife nook, where I’ll be running regular talks and activity sessions to talk about all things ocean! It’s always such a pleasure to meet guests onboard our crossings so please come onboard and join me on deck for more fascinating sightings, beautiful sunsets and lots of enthusiastic conversation! I’ll be there rain or shine with many layers of clothing, lots of cool wildlife encounter stories and a keen eye for cetaceans!