Sea Search

Sea Search is leading research into rabies in seals. We led the discovery and quantified the outbreak. This hashtag help us continue this work to 1) understand if rabies is still increasing in the wild, 2) how it's spreading, and 3) which animals are at risk.

Rabies in seals affects all water users. If it spreads to other species, it could become a global catastrophe.

Each test costs R1000. We need to test 500 seals per season to accurately understand the disease in the wild.

Click through to the GoFundMe to help support this work
https://www.givengain.com/campaign/rabies-on-the-rise

Help us count Heaviside's dolphins! Did you know ? To count dolphins - we photograph them and use scar and notches on the body and dorsal fin to identify individuals. By re-sightings those individuals over time and space - we can start to figure out how many animals there are, where they move, how long they stay in an area et etc.

However -- we can only get to sea so many days a year but the dolphins are out there every day!. Cape Town has a vibrant and busy marine conservation and tourism community. Become a citizen scientist and help us count them!

WHAT WE NEED: Good quality photographs of Heaviside's dolphins at sea (with a date and location).
HOW: Take your camera to sea when you go... or spend these wintery days checking through you existing photos (or even videos)!

Happywhale is making this work so much easier for scientists and citizen scientists to get involved. Upload direct, or get in touch about sharing with us and we can help with the uploads.

New photos, old photos -- all photos are welcome!

Many people have already contributed. More always welcome - please share :)

The other week, our team had the opportunity to step into the studio and watch a live recording of the Leadership for Conservation in Africa - LCA Sparks Talks.

We got to hear from two legends of South African marine biology, George and Margo Branch, the minds behind The Living Shores of Southern Africa, a book that has shaped generations of scientists and ocean lovers in this country.

The inspiration kept coming with a talk from Leigh de Necker, who shared insights into the world of South African sharks.

A massive thank you to LCA for having us for the day!