Whales & Dolphins catch the curiosity of Prom walkers!

Walkers on the Prom on Sunday did a double take when they saw a group of divers surrounding a dolphin and whale on the beach. Curiosity got the better of most and they came down onto the beach to find out exactly what was happening with the whale and dolphin. On closer inspection they saw that these were life sized inflatable’s and all part of a Live Stranding Course held by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group in conjunction with Galway Atlantaquaria and the Galway Dive Club.

There were 20 participants on the course given by Dr. Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG). Simon, who recently featured on the RTE Series “Wild Journeys”, took a break from his work on Whale Shark tagging to come to Galway for this course. Set in two modules, part one consisted of a classroom session at the aquarium and the second part was a practical session on the beach with stranding kits and IWDG pontoons. "The course participants were a 50/50 mixture of Galway Dive Club members and members of the IWDG. The Galway Dive club is a mostly PADI club based in Galway City who dive the Galway, Clare and Aran coastline" said Kieran Tolan Chairman of the Galway Dive Club “and this course on how to handle stranded dolphins was excellent and will give us the confidence to help manage the situation if we have to handle a stranding event in Galway”

 Based on the success of the course the IWDG is hoping to organise a team based in Galway who can help in the event of a stranding occurring in the West.  Please contact Sabine Springer sabine.springer@iwdg.ie, or telephone 091-637621 if you are interested in getting this group off the ground.

For more information on the Galway Dive Club email on GalwayDiveclub@gmail.com or Irish Whale & Dolphin Group www.iwdg.ie