Sea Rescue hosts talk on dolphins and whales

NSRI's Life boat Circle (club for over 50s) will be hosting Dr Simon Elwen, a cetacean specialist, at a series of functions this month.Simon will present a fascinating slide show on a current research project: the Effect of Climate Change on Cetaceans. He will also invite the audience to participate in this research project as citizen scientists, teaching us how to record valuable data and submit useful photographs of dolphins that we spot from land or from boats; their study area stretches from Hermanus to Table Bay.We will meet at 11am18 May at the Europa Café, Village Square, Hermanus19 May at the new Krystal Beach Hotel, Harbour Island, Gordon's BayRSVP to Kim Gresse kim@searescue.org.za or call Stephanie at the office on 021 434 4011Everyone is welcome but please be sure to RSVP as seating is limited. No charge. Donations are welcome.We may host a third function in the Kommetjie area – if interested email Elaine@searescue.org.za or leave your details with Stephanie at the office on 021 434 4011Dr Simon Elwen: Born and raised in South Africa, he has always loved both the sea and animals. After graduating as a biologist, he had the privilege to travel and work in several other countries including the UK and Gabon. Much of his time has been spent in Namibia focussing on Heaviside’s and bottlenose dolphin ecology. More recently, he moved back to Cape Town to setup Sea Search in South Africa. Although interested in all aspects of the ocean, he is particularly interested in the behavioural adaptations that cetaceans make to different environmental conditions. This is an important line of research due to the increasing number of changes that have occurred in the marine realm from human impacts.