18/1/2007---Boat Trip survey Practice, By Yee
It was a sunny day.
And it was also the day we have our first practical session of the course--- boat trip survey.
Got up at 6:30am, back to the university to get all things ready for the practical.
When we arrived the pier, it was already 11am.
The whole class separate into 2 groups and got onto 2 wooden traditional Pakistani boats.
The survey technique was a transect count. 4 people worked together each time, 1 as the navigator who navigate the boat to make sure that the boat is traveling on the transect, 2 people as observers to observe the left and right side of the boat to see if there are any marine mammals found. If a marine mammal is found the boat will stop and further observation will be done. The GPS position, the species, the number of individuals, the behavior of the marine mammals as well as some other details will be marked. Besides marine mammals other animals like turtles and birds which feed on fish will be also observed and recorded as these factors can help to find out if the productivity of the area is high or not. Rubbish and fishing boats were also observed and recorded to work out the human disturbance on the marine mammals. The recorder will mark all the things that observed by the observers as well as the GPS position of the boat every 10 minutes. Physical factors like sea state, wave height and wind speed are also recorded every 30 minutes. Every 30 minutes the duties are shifted so that everyone can work on different jobs and also have enough rest.
Besides observation, the physical factors of the sea and plankton samples are also collected. Every time when taking sample the boat will stop, air, sea temperature and wind speed will be recorded, and each of the 2 samples of phytoplankton and zooplankton were collected in order to study more about the productivity of the sites and to see if these factors are related to the abundance and diversity of the cetaceans in that area.
The site we went to this time was a lagoon around the mangrove.
We started working, in the first 2 hours we did not saw any marine mammals. When the time a bit ‘frustrated’, somebody suddenly shouted that they saw something. 2 Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (what we call Chinese White dolphins in Hong Kong) swim up to the water surface! Unlike their relatives in Hong Kong, even these dolphins are adults, they are still grey in colour. The reason for the differences in colour is still not clearly known.
These are the first dolphins we saw in tour trip, hooray! (And actually they were the only dolphins we saw in this practical).
Besides dolphins we saw some other wonderful animals, like several good birds white pelican, blue-eared kingfisher and osprey.
It was really a nice field trip.
However we also saw the mangrove is disturbed by humans, there are some houses around the mangrove and we also saw quite a number of people around the houses. Beside the houses there is usually a large amount of wood, probably cut from the mangrove as firewood for their own use as well as selling them. The mangrove and the lagoon is an important to habitat for the dolphins as well as other wildlife. More should be done to prevent these human disturbances which may destroy this mangrove lagoon habitat.
We went back to the pier in the evening, and finished our first practical session.
Further well prepared for the real boat trip survey.
And it was also the day we have our first practical session of the course--- boat trip survey.
Got up at 6:30am, back to the university to get all things ready for the practical.
When we arrived the pier, it was already 11am.
The whole class separate into 2 groups and got onto 2 wooden traditional Pakistani boats.
The survey technique was a transect count. 4 people worked together each time, 1 as the navigator who navigate the boat to make sure that the boat is traveling on the transect, 2 people as observers to observe the left and right side of the boat to see if there are any marine mammals found. If a marine mammal is found the boat will stop and further observation will be done. The GPS position, the species, the number of individuals, the behavior of the marine mammals as well as some other details will be marked. Besides marine mammals other animals like turtles and birds which feed on fish will be also observed and recorded as these factors can help to find out if the productivity of the area is high or not. Rubbish and fishing boats were also observed and recorded to work out the human disturbance on the marine mammals. The recorder will mark all the things that observed by the observers as well as the GPS position of the boat every 10 minutes. Physical factors like sea state, wave height and wind speed are also recorded every 30 minutes. Every 30 minutes the duties are shifted so that everyone can work on different jobs and also have enough rest.
Besides observation, the physical factors of the sea and plankton samples are also collected. Every time when taking sample the boat will stop, air, sea temperature and wind speed will be recorded, and each of the 2 samples of phytoplankton and zooplankton were collected in order to study more about the productivity of the sites and to see if these factors are related to the abundance and diversity of the cetaceans in that area.
The site we went to this time was a lagoon around the mangrove.
We started working, in the first 2 hours we did not saw any marine mammals. When the time a bit ‘frustrated’, somebody suddenly shouted that they saw something. 2 Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (what we call Chinese White dolphins in Hong Kong) swim up to the water surface! Unlike their relatives in Hong Kong, even these dolphins are adults, they are still grey in colour. The reason for the differences in colour is still not clearly known.
These are the first dolphins we saw in tour trip, hooray! (And actually they were the only dolphins we saw in this practical).
Besides dolphins we saw some other wonderful animals, like several good birds white pelican, blue-eared kingfisher and osprey.
It was really a nice field trip.
However we also saw the mangrove is disturbed by humans, there are some houses around the mangrove and we also saw quite a number of people around the houses. Beside the houses there is usually a large amount of wood, probably cut from the mangrove as firewood for their own use as well as selling them. The mangrove and the lagoon is an important to habitat for the dolphins as well as other wildlife. More should be done to prevent these human disturbances which may destroy this mangrove lagoon habitat.
We went back to the pier in the evening, and finished our first practical session.
Further well prepared for the real boat trip survey.
Photo on the boat
Working on the boat, 'where is the dolphin?'
Pakistani boats we were on
Villages around the mangrove
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