Volunteer stories from past and present volunteers
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Juliana Castrillon from Manizales, Colombia, 2005
Volunteering with SWF has given me the opportunity to learn about marine mammals and be in direct contact with them. At the moment I am learning how to do research and developing my thesis for the University of Javeriana on site-fidelity, long-term residence and population size of the bottlenose dolphins within the Cardigan Bay SAC. At the same time I am meeting a lot of nice people with same interests as me protecting the animals and the marine environment. We work as a team carrying out land and boat surveys, photo-identification and collecting and analysing data.
Eleanor Stone from the UK, 2005
Having had such a good time volunteering for Sea Watch last year, I decided to return for more this season. During my 4 months in New Quay in 2004 I was able to take part in all aspects of the research projects that were going on, but my main role was in helping with maintaining the photo ID catalogue, which is what I have returned to do this year. I am responsible for collecting and organising photos of the bottlenose dolphins to create a catalogue of individuals that can be recognised year after year. This has been a fantastic opportunity to become involved in a project that is directly related to my career hopes and has taught me a lot about the nature of marine mammal research. New Quay is a lovely place to work – not many people can see dolphins from their office window – and for a small town there is a lot going on. I have also made lots of great friends, from all corners of the world and from all walks of life, but who are all working towards a common goal.