Young ambassadors for the protection of dolphins in the Indian Ocean

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Local ambassadors have been trained in monitoring dolphin populations in order to identify them and pass on their knowledge to local populations.

In three islands in the Indian Ocean, approximately ten young people were selected to identify the populations of sedentary dolphins living near their coasts. After their training, the ambassadors went out to sea, counted the dolphins encountered and photo-identified them. Then, their mission was to present their experiences and results at events and conferences. As the scientific coordinator of this project, I wrote the project and received funding. I also designed monitoring protocols and analyzed data collected by the ambassadors.

Context

Coastal dolphin populations have been observed less frequently in continental waters. Yet, near smaller islands, we still have the daily opportunity to observe populations of resident coastal dolphins. Unfortunately, their presence remains threatened by anthropogenic development.

During my stay as an eco-volunteer in Mayotte with the association Megaptera, I realized that young people from Mayotte had almost no opportunity to discover their lagoon. In parallel, the resident dolphin populations of the lagoon were not known; as well as home ranges or population densities.

Thus, I proposed to coordinate a new project with the association called “Young ambassadors for the protection of dolphins in the Indian Ocean”. I received funding for this project through a call from the French Endowment Fund for Biodiversity (90 000€). Unfortunately, after the defection of the project sponsor, FDB only financed 43% of the project. Thus, Megaptera had to end the project prematurely for lack of funding.
















Challenge





The aim of the project was to raise awareness among local populations about the protection of dolphins by counting and identifying the different populations of dolphins living in their lagoon.





Approach & Results





This project fulfilled two main objectives:





  • to train local ambassadors who can then raise awareness among local populations regarding the protection of resident dolphins living near their coast
  • to establish a first database of individual photo-identification in order to estimate population sizes of the different resident species and analyze their spatial distribution with the future aim of distinguishing areas needing potential protection”.





This project allowed the selection of approximately ten young people between 12 and 18 years old in each of the three islands: Mayotte, the Comoros and The Réunion. The ambassadors were trained in population monitoring: data collection protocol, recognition of different species, counting and photo-identification. They went out to sea to identify the populations of Tursiops aduncus, stenella longirostris and stenella attenuata. Then, they were accompanied to prepare for conferences, naturalist meetings and events in schools.





Thanks to the data they collected, I was able to establish a first photo-identification catalog of Tursiops aduncus. The ambassadors used this catalog to identify the dolphins observed during their last sea trips. I also established a first presence map of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin in Mayotte.





The originality of this project lay in the involvement of young people from the islands of Mayotte, Réunion and Comoros. By taking advantage of their new experience and knowledge of resident dolphin populations, they completed remarkable and passionate work in raising awareness among local populations.















Volunteer and Collaborators





  • Association Megaptera: Martine Vély, Jean-Jacques Bastid, Marie Jenny Douiri, Marie Boutonnet, Philippe Demougeot, Odile Frizon, Sea Blue Safari, Ornella Lamberti, Saïd, Azali, Jérôme et Elise Oster, Michel Vély, Damien Flageul, Sophie Martin, Audrey Paris, Fanny Gimie
  • Fonds de dotation for Biodiversity, Project Save your logo










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