1. Helping to conserve Cardigan Bay’s marine wildlife through education and research
Helpu i warchod bywyd gwyllt morol Bae Ceredigion drwy addysg ac ymchwil
18th
March 2014
To whom it may concern:
Melanie Parr was a volunteer research assistant at the Cardigan Bay Marine
Wildlife Centre (CBMWC) from 20th
September to 26th
October 2013.
The CBMWC is a public information, education and research organisation
based in New Quay, west Wales which is dedicated to raising awareness of
the local marine wildlife, the marine environment and the threats they face.
Run predominantly by volunteers, we operate a visitor centre offering
interpretive and interactive displays on a wide variety of marine wildlife; an
education and activity room and we collect data and conduct research on the
marine mammals of Cardigan Bay, in particular the semi-resident population
of bottlenose dolphins.
During her time as a volunteer, Melanie participated in all areas of our work:
 Carried out land based “Dolphin watch surveys” in conjunction with
Ceredigion County Council. These surveys are conducted in two hour
shifts from a vantage point in New Quay harbour, with volunteers
recording dolphin sightings and behaviour, whilst also monitoring boat
traffic and dolphin interactions with any vessels.
 Working with our local eco-tourism partner, joined boat surveys to record
effort and marine mammal sightings data
 Set up and manned our visitor centre, dealing with enquiries and taking
boat bookings
 Data entry and checking
 Provided sightings updates for our website and Facebook page
 Beach cleans
 Sorted and matched bottlenose dolphin photo-ID images
Melanie proved herself to be competent in data collection, quickly learning
the skills required to undertake both land and boat-based surveys without
assistance and showed a keen interest in our photo-ID work.
Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact
me.
Yours Faithfully,
Laura Mears
Project Officer
Cardigan Bay Marine
Wildlife Centre
Patent Slip Building
Glanmor Terrace
New Quay
Ceredigion
SA45 9PS
Phone: 01545 560224
E-mail: info@cbmwc.org
www.cbmwc.org
www.facebook.com/CBMWC
www.twitter.com/CBMWC
The Cardigan Bay Marine
Wildlife Centre is supported
by the Cardigan Bay
Marine Wildlife Group, a
marine interest group of the
Wildlife Trust of South and
West Wales