Drone Surveillance of the Best Kind: Stunning images of a dolphin ‘stampede’ & Grey Whales captured by ‘drone cam’!

Another video doing the rounds is this one [Camera Equipped Drones Capture Stunning Footage of Stampeding Dolphins and Migrating Whales] where:

“Camera-equipped drones launched by Captain Dave Anderson of Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari captured stunning footage of stampeding dolphins off of Dana Point, California and migrating whales in the waters of Maui, Hawaii.”

I must say I agree with National Geographic who like seeing drones being used this way:

“Whatever you think of drone technology, this may be one use that we can all agree on.”

This birds-eye view of a  a pod of hundreds of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) which typically live and play togther in large ‘super-pods’,  and three grey whales (Eschrichtius robustus) demonstrates what can happen when technology is innovated and adapted. 

Imagine the potential in addition to observation….. Management of marine mammals and other large fauna? Monitoring of endangered species? Population studies?

I am thinking New Zealand Sealions here 😛

New Zealand TV3 reports a “vicious disease killing NZ’s sea lions”

Last night New Zealand TV (TV3) reported that the presence of a “vicious disease killing around 600 New Zealand sea lions per year”

TV3 also reported a statement by Deepwater Group that:

“New technology has reduced the number of deaths caused by fishing nets by 90 percent, to 15 adult sea lions a year.”

Further adding that the focus now needs to turn to securing the lives of those [New Zealand Sea Lions] on land and it’s keen to work with the Government, George Clement (CEO of Deepwater Group) made the statement:

“If you were on a sheep farm and a lot of your lambs were dying before they became productive, you’d look at dosing them for parasites and giving antibiotics. On teh face of it, it is no more complicated than that.”

When solutions are this simple… surely we just have to get out there and implement them…. don’t we?

The Deepwater Group says a bacterial disease is killing more than 600 pups a year in the Auckland Islands. Source: TV3. Click on above picture to play video at http://www.scoop.co.nz

For more information please see the following Greenfish Bluefish posts:

• A disease (Klebsiella pneumonia) is killing Auckland Island sea lion pups in unsustainable numbers! (greenfishbluefish.wordpress.com)
• New Zealand Sea Lions… An Emotive Issue (greenfishbluefish.wordpress.com)
• Greens urged to help find a solution (greenfishbluefish.wordpress.com)