This weekend, experts from all over the UK and Europe are coming together in Cornwall for the first Southwest Bottlenose Dolphin Forum taking place on Saturday at the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus.

Organised by Cornwall Wildlife Trust, in partnership with the University’s Marine Ecology Conservation Network (MECN), this event will bring together experts, volunteers and the public to act on the conservation of Cornwall’s dolphins by stepping up research programmes and getting our local population on Britain’s wildlife map. 

Abby Crosby, Marine Conservation Officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: ‘Many people do not realise how rare these animals are due to their regular use of inshore coastal waters and consequent frequent sightings, but according to the Trusts’ research via our Seaquest Southwest project, numbers sighted around our coast have halved since the 1990s.

‘This decline in group size is particularly worrying as we know that the animals are reproducing, yet group numbers continue to go down.’ 

Brendan Godley, Professor of Conservation Science at the University of Exeter and director of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation said: ‘The South West bottlenose dolphins could have the potential to act as an important flagship for marine conservation in the region and University of Exeter staff and students in Cornwall are standing by to help in whatever way we can.’

Interested members of the public are encouraged to get in touch with the Trust if they wish to be kept up to date with developments. Contact [email protected] for more information.