ESO's Whale and Dolphin Group (ESOWDRG) completed a successful field survey of the Duqm area earlier this year as planned, and also managed a few days in the Hasik area of Dhofar. Our aim was to survey for humpback whales which we have been doing since the late 90's. What we found this year was really quite disturbing. We saw no humpback whales in the Duqm area at all, and heard only one individual singing somewhere in the far distance. This was in stark contrast to previous surveys there (the last being 3 years ago) where we had been used to seeing 2-3 whales per day. Even more concerning was that we also saw no dolphins at all during the boat surveys. We attributed at least some of this lack of activity to the huge increase in fishing effort in that area, which we know is responsible for significant mortality through bycatch. The construction of the Duqm Port may also be having an impact - we could detect the port construction activities acoustically (underwater) from over 60 kilometres away. 

The lack of cetaceans there may also be partly due to natural seasonal variation, which is why we headed straight for Dhofar after the Duqm survey. Due to the lack of funds we could not run the boat there, but observed from cliff-tops and did see several humpback whales, which was somewhat of a relief, for with a population of less than a hundred, it will not take much to push Oman's humpbacks into extinction. We are nevertheless still very concerned at the very high levels of mortality that is evident form our recent beach surveys and observations in both the Duqm and Dhofar area. Our morbid tally over just a few days work included several whales, numerous dolphins and dozens of turtles: Far more than we saw living. These are shocking findings.  It really is a serious situation and is not a promising reflection of the state of the marine environment generally, or the future for tourism and fisheries in these areas unless more detailed management procedures can be implemented based on sound science. 

Our surveys continue and we will update our website as we have more findings