Data Partners and Contributors
Working with selected partners is important to HWDT, because it helps us to build a long-term picture of UK cetacean populations and distributions, which is used by scientists and government bodies to inform conservation policies.
National Biodiversity Network (NBN) – Data Partner
The National Biodiversity Network is a collaborative partnership created to exchange biodiversity information. It is a charity, with a membership including many UK wildlife conservation organisations, government, country agencies, environmental agencies, local environmental records centres and many voluntary groups. HWDT is a member and data provider of the NBN, sharing data collected onboard Silurian and through Whale Track to contribute towards our knowledge of the UKs biodiversity.
For more information see: https://nbn.org.uk/
Hebrides Cruises – Data Contributor
Hebrides Cruises is a family-run business based in Oban offering cruises to the Islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides, offering the chance to see the huge diversity of wildlife, birds and scenery in some of the remotest parts of Scotland’s west coast. In 2015, HWDT ran a pilot project with Hebrides Cruises that highlighted the need for a more convenient way to record effort-based sightings, the result of which has been the Whale Track project, a convenient and easy way for all users to submit their sightings.
Sea Life Surveys – DATA CONTRIBUTOR
Sea Life Surveys has been successfully operating specialist wildlife trips around the rugged islands and clean seas of the west coast of Scotland for over 35 years. Sea Life Surveys and HWDT were born out of the Mull Cetacean Project which was established in 1982 by Richard Fairbairns, with the advice of marine mammal scientists Vassili Papastavrou and Jonathan Gordon, to learn more about the cetaceans of the Inner Hebrides. Sea Life Surveys has always been a key data partner, providing effort-based sightings and photographs of individual animals to complement HWDT’s research.