Rainforests of the Ocean
Rainforests of the ocean Coral reefs are estimated to cover only 0.1-0.5% of the ocean floor, yet coral reefs are among the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. Almost one third of all marine fish are found on coral reefs, and approximately 10% of fish consumed by humans are caught on coral reefs, […]
An expert fisher
An expert fisher While the African fish eagle Haliaeetus vocifer is one of the more iconic bird species associated with water bodies, the Western osprey Pandion haliaetus is a species not to be overlooked. Luckily for us, here in Plettenberg Bay on the Keurbooms River we have both of these magnificent species! The Western osprey […]
The world’s largest ling fish
The world’s largest living fish We had an interesting visitor into the Knysna lagoon recently, a whale shark Rhincodon typus. Whale sharks are very large, slow-moving filter-feeders which have a circumpolar distribution through all tropical and warm water, between 30°N and 35°S. The distribution of whale sharks is temperature dependent, and they are rarely sighted […]
Exciting times….. March Research Blog!!!
Exciting times……. March research blog The elasmobranch egg case project has been progressing business as usual this month, although we are not able to process the egg cases fast enough to make up for the backlog of egg cases from the November to January period. In light of this, and that we have a year’s […]
Our first Research Blog for 2017!!!
Our first research blog for 2017!!! The ORCA Foundation team has hit the ground running this year, busy both outdoors and in! Despite the volunteer program being closed for a number of weeks, ORCA staff maintained the elasmobranch egg case project. Surveys were continued, and egg cases were collected. Now with the volunteer program back […]
Our latest testimonies from our past volunteers!!!
Our latest testimonies from our past volunteers!!! Simone Stadlbacher Austria (Aged 39 ) October 2016 “I spent a month in South Africa with the Orca Foundation and Ocean Blue Adventures. It was an amazing experience and I met so many great people. Thank you to the whole team for making me feel so welcome and teaching […]
October research blog!!
October research blog. Well somehow October has passed us by and we are left with 3 weeks of the volunteer program. It has once again been a bit of a scramble to stay on top of the elasmobranch egg case project, which is currently sitting at 3918 egg cases. We have definitely seen an increase […]
Humpback whale migration – the what, when, where, and why??
Over the past few months we have had some really fantastic sightings of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae on our boat trips! You may wonder if the whales are still around, and yes, they are! We have been getting our best sightings of the whales off the point of Robberg as they are seldom inside the bay. […]
Fish Tagging
The perilous state of many fish stocks worldwide is well known, as well as the data deficient status of many fish species, and the people who are have noticed a change over time, excluding the commercial fishing vessels, are the recreational and subsistence fishermen. It was recognized by Rudy van der Elst that such fishermen […]