25.03.2022 – A window of opportunity

What a day! For the first time since summer, our fleet left for five trips from the marina of Calheta. The unstable weather forced us to cram all tours onto the only day that worked this week, so we used this small window of opportunity to provide our clients with some dolphin memories for their holiday here in Madeira.

As if the Atlantic Ocean understood that we had adopted our summer schedule to accommodate the influx of clients from the week, it filled our tours with our famous summer visitors, the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). A few of the sightings of these curious, fun dolphins were accompanied by sightings of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) on our zodiac.

Both species were spotted close to fishing gear today, a sighting which unfortunately has become far too frequent nowadays. Bottlenose dolphins are the species that is most notorious for approaching fishing boats and while longline fishing gear can potentially injure or trap younger dolphins, there are far worse forms of commercial fishing out there. Illegal gill net fishing is driving the critically endangered Vanquita (Phocoena sinus) to extinction and large super trawlers are scooping up dolphins in the North Atlantic, that end up as disposable by-catch. Repeated sightings of dolphin interactions with fishing boats are a sign that we need to be more careful when harvesting our oceans…and leave some of the catch for their predators.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

14:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins

Stenella

10:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins