New species of dolphin discovered.

BBC News - New species of dolphin discovered

 

I was going to post about this.

It's at the one time both tremendously exciting and horrifying. On the one hand, the knowledge that Port Phillip Bay's dolphin are a separate species is cool... but they're also probably critically endangered. The two populations are both very, very small - about 100 in Port Phillip and 50 in the Gippsland Lakes.

The Bay (and to a much lesser extent the Gippsland Lakes) are heavily built-up, commercially-significant waterways. The Bay was controversially dredged a couple of years ago to provide access to deep-hulled cargo ships. One wonders if the public opposition to this would have been a lot stronger had the status of the Bay's dolphins been known. The dolphins in this population are occasionally seen in the Yarra River, which is saline all the way into the Melbourne CBD. The Yarra is heavily contaminated by runoffs and litter from suburban streets, and is severely silted up. Finally, dolphins in the Bay have been known to be harassed by people riding jet skis, or even hit.

Port Phillip Bay is quite small - about two-thirds the size of Rhode Island for American readers, about three quarters the size of Luxembourg for Europeans - and the Gippsland Lakes are less than a third the size of the Bay. Research will need to be done, I guess, on whether the species extends further out into more open waters. Lets hope so.

 

but what I still find cool is that in this day and age when we have a wealth of technology available to us that has allowed us to explore every corner of the globe - we are still finding major new species!

 

Absolutely agree with this statement.

We're still sorting out how many species of giraffes and elephants there are...imagine the untold millions or tens of millions of species of microbes and invertebrates that are waiting out there. There are entire deep sea bioregions that need exploration. James Cameron's deep sea documentary "Aliens of the Deep" portrays this effectively. It's a golden age of biodiversity exploration...hopefully we can discover it AND conserve some of it from being paved, shot, poisoned, etc.

 

I wonder if these are the same dolphins that swim alongside the Queenscliff-Sorrento ferry?

 

That'd be them.

 

It is worth noting though that the genome sequencing revolution is revealing a great deal of diversity correlated with reproductive isolation within very well known groups that were assumed to be monotypic species (elephants, giraffes, dolphins, crocodiles). This is an important area of discovery from the perspective of making sure that "species" (now probably groups of species) are adequately conserved.

 

And the aborigines would have known about them for a few thousand years.

 

Hold tight. I'll sort you out after lunch.
I have some cool videos I shot of them, but if you internet speed is slow, then there is no point in posting it. (The pic gives you an idea though.)

I will, however, try to post as much textual info as I can regarding your questions. Too hungry at the moment!

 

Ok so here goes:

About the ferry
There are 2 large ferries, each leaving from either Queenscliff or Sorrento, every hour on the hour from 7am to 6pm every day of the year. This ferry does NOT leave from the CBD or environs.

It costs about $10pp one way for just a passenger, and about $50 for a car (plus $7.50pp).


About Queenscliff and Sorrento
Port Phillip Bay is enclosed with pincers (the Mornington Peninsula in the east, and the Bellarine Peninsula in the west), with Queenscliff being on the tip of the Bellarine.

We have done a loop: Melbourne - Sorrento - FERRY - Queenscliff - Melbourne. But, you might be content with parking at either terminal and doing a return trip on the ferry to double your chances of seeing the dolphins.

Here is the killer though: both towns are just under 2 hours drive from Melbourne CBD. If you wanted to use public transport out here, well I reckon it might be 3 hours one way. So can you do this in the time you have? I would say yes, if you are prepared to rent a car at the airport and drive directly there.

Is a dolphin sighting guaranteed?
As we both know, wildlife sightings can be unpredictable, so I called the ferry company to confirm. They said that (and I remember seeing this on the news) that they saw some whales last month, and they see the dolphins regularly, BUT, it's pot luck really. They can be seen on a crossing from either town, at any time of the day, on any day, or not at all. The best time to see them, they said, would be on a sunny day when the seas are calm.


So, I hope that helped with your decision making.

CGSwans might have some more/different info, or maybe another solution.

 

Another option is to take the professional cruises, which will give you a much better chance of seeing the dolphins. They depart from Sorrento and also Queenscliff, and the prices on the two I looked at were $55 sightseeing and $125 swimming. Bunyip Tours also do a day tour out of Melbourne including a dolphin trip as an option but that doesn't start till mid-October.

 

Oh yeah! I forgot about those "swimming with the dolphins and seals" tours! Great idea!

I had a look on a couple websites, and the tours run for about 3-4 hours, either early morning, or mid-day, so maybe he might not be able to catch either, given his arrival and departure times.

 

No problem at all. Glad to help.