At the Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation, we have a variety of ongoing projects that all share a common goal – inspiring individuals to take action for the conservation of whales and dolphins and the oceans.

Ecotourism is a growing industry, and our organisation seeks to be a key provider of information for individuals looking to incorporate conservation and environmental awareness in their holiday travels.

Our three main areas of focus for our foundation are as follows:

Conservation

The Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation collaborates with the Atlantic Ocean Cetacean Network (AOCN) on conservation projects across the Atlantic Ocean. The AOCN is a recently launched effort, and it provides grants for cetacean based projects. For more information about applying for grants, or if you are interested in joining the network, please contact ed@whalenation.org for more information, and check out our webpage on the AOCN

Education

On the whale watching boats, our volunteers are able to answer any questions that the tourists may have about the cetacean species found in the waters of the Canary Islands. In addition, we also bring various educational materials on the boats for interested tourists, so they can read more about the species and the current threats that they are facing.

For children, we run a kids club during the hours that our visitors centre is open, so tourists may bring their children by after a whale watching tour to do crafts and activities focused on teaching about marine conservation related issues.

Research

In collaboration with Tenerife’s whale watching industry, volunteers with the Atlantic Whale Foundation have collected behavioural and migratory data on pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins and other species that have been spotted on whale watching tours.

Our primary focuses have been:

  1. Resident Short Finned Pilot Whales off the SW coast of Tenerife
  2. Resident Bottlenose Dolphin community off of the SW coast of Tenerife
  3. Migrating species sighted off the SW coast of Tenerife (18 species to date)

Research developed through The Atlantic Whale Foundation has been based on individual research projects conducted by volunteers, photo identification of individual whales and dolphins, illegal boat activity, behavioural data, GPS locations and conditions of the sea at time of data collection.

More information about our research can be found on our website and individuals can also contribute by uploading their personal fin shots and details!