Alison Towner, Senior Biologist for the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. She graduated in MSc Zoology December 17, 2012 by dyertrust The 17th of December 2012 was a very special day for Alison Towner, Senior Biologist for the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. She graduated in MSc Zoology from the University of Cape Town, this 2 year project was a research based masters [...]
Whale Shark stranding December 27, 2012 by dyertrust On Thursday, 14th December 2012, the DICT was notified of a Whale Shark which has stranded in Pearly Beach. DICT Biologists and Volunteers rushed out to the site to assess the situation. We are always optimistic about strandings, hoping that we can manage to help the animal back into the ocean. Unfortunately, upon [...]
Giant Petrel Rescue July 20, 2012 by dyertrust A team of DICT staff collected another Giant Petrel this week, this time the bird was found swimming around Kleinbaai harbour with an injury to the right wing. Dickie Chivell of Dyer Island Cruises braved the cold water and managed to catch the bird using a net. The bird was taken care of [...]
Beach clean up with Dibanisa June 01, 2012 by dyertrust DICT conducted a beach clean upat Kleinbaai together with the Dibanisa Programme. 'The girls were welcomed with hot dogs and cold drink. Due to the rain, they had to make some makeshift rain coats out of the plastic bags used for the beach clean-up! Nikki (DICT's new Operations Manager) spoke [...]
Amy's most challenging aspects July 09, 2012 by dyertrust What has been the most challenging aspect of your project? There is one glaringly obvious challenge with this project and that is not getting your equipment damaged or eaten by a great white shark, owner of the most famous and notorious jaws in nature and popular culture. On the flipside you dont [...]
Keep on the lookout for an Elephant on the beach! April 10, 2012 by dyer They are a deep diving seal (upwards of 1500m!) and eat a variety of food including eels, squid, some sharks, and fish. Elephant seals haul out often to warm up before returning to the sea, and this is the most probably explanation for his behaviour and [...]
Dead shark dissection results August 05, 2012 by dyertrust The Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) retrieved a dead white shark from the shore of Dyer Island on 19 June 2012. The shark had no external signs of stress or markings that could suggest any cause of death. It was then transported to Cape Town by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) [...]
Magnificent humpback whales August 16, 2012 by dyertrust The humpback whales have been magnificent this July! By passing through the area as cargo trains they blew our minds in how precise and predicable they re-surface. It has been an absolutely pleasure to track them from the water tower! Another great pleasure is that the southern right whales have been observed on [...]
Exciting Donations for Shark Research January 27, 2012 by dyertrust Well January 2012 has certainly kicked off well for shark research. Shark clients of Marine Dynamics have continued to be generous with two notable donations that we just have to tell you about. First Elias and Alexandre Jacobson from Sweden donated R10 000 (66 blocks) and then Rita Myers of the [...]
The Southern right whales are back July 16, 2012 by dyertrust Breaching humpback whales, feeding groups of Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins and southern right whales returning for the season These are some of the amazing sightings the theodolite tracking team and the guests on the Whale Whisperer have been experiencing in June. The theodolite tracking has been running smooth even though the [...]