Rise in dolphins visiting Guernsey waters

Miss Soltysiak spent three months monitoring Guernsey’s dolphin population through boat and shore-based observations this summer, and she was back in the island this weekend to present her findings.

‘Mostly dolphins are seen on the east coast of the island, but do appear on the west, and we have verified that dolphin visits have increased over the past 30 years,’ she said.

‘There are a few theories for this, such as the rise in sea temperatures and also the less harmful fishing methods over here.’

Miss Soltysiak studied for her master’s degree under a partnership between the Jersey International Centre of Advanced Studies and University of Exeter and was hosted in Guernsey by the Guernsey Biological Records Centre and the DolFin Project.

‘I set up the DolFin Project with Nicky Harris in 2019 after the rise in bottlenose dolphin sightings,’ said Guernsey Biological Records Centre manager Liz Sweet.

‘There used to be about one sighting a year, but marine mammal sightings are much more common now and this means that something has changed.’

Miss Soltysiak explained that dolphins are a sentinel species and monitoring their movements can help to detect environmental changes.

Some 24 boat surveys were conducted as part of the research, and more than 600 volunteer hours of research was undertaken by more than 20 volunteers.

The dolphins were identified and monitored based on distinguishing features on their fins.

‘We want to encourage the dolphins to stay to help detect any changes, but it would be helpful to have more regulations in place, such as when people are given boat licences, they are told how to act around marine mammals,’ said Miss Soltysiak.

‘There were several times when we were surveying and people weren’t acting correctly, getting too close to the dolphins. It would be better for boaters to be more aware.’

Miss Soltysiak said she would love to continue studying local dolphin populations, and is working towards studying a PhD.