Research projects

The Trust’s research projects on Hector’s dolphins (Banks Peninsula), bottlenose dolphins (Fiordland) and sperm whales (Kaikoura) have been in full swing. Tom Brough is starting a PhD project on Hector’s dolphins, based in Akaroa on Banks Peninsula. Marta Guerra’s PhD project on sperm whales in Kaikoura started with a ‘bang’. Within a few weeks of the start of her project, a seismic survey vessel started operating between Wellington and Kaikoura. David Johnstone and Mel Froude are heading into Fiordland to study bottlenose dolphins in March. The last fieldtrip to the Auckland Islands for Will Rayment and Trudi Webster’s research on right whales was in July-August 2013. We are now fundraising for this winter’s fieldtrip. For more information, see the Trust’s Facebook Site.