Contributory project: It is designed by scientists, and citizens participate in data collection. 

Objectives Evidence the potential of whale watching boats for whale research, and of citizen science as a form of crowdsourcing for studies on whale habitat and conservation. 

Description of citizen participation: Photographs taken by professional photographers from whale watching boats are added to a catalog of identified right whales. The photographs allow for the identification of the specimens present in the waters surrounding Puerto Pirámides between June and December, and for recording more information on the same whale while in the Nuevo Golfo area. This photographic evidence supplements that obtained during the annual aerial survey conducted by ICB and Ocean Alliance along the coast of Península Valdés in September, during the peak season of whale population density. The photographs provided by AGB document with sufficient detail the calves’ pattern of callosities, hardly visible from a certain height. This allows for their identification in the year of their birth and makes it possible to know their age and the family they belong to.  

Time Frame. 10/01/2016 – N/A

Project leaders. Florencia Vilches, Institute of Whale Conservation (ICB, in Spanish).

Contact information. Email: info@icb.org.ar Email: florencia.vilches@icb.org.ar Web: www.ballenas.org.ar Facebook: facebook.com/icb.argentina Instagram: instagram.com/icb.argentina Relevant links: ballenas.org.ar/conservacion/la-ciencia-ciudadana-contribuye-al-catalogo-de-ballenas-francas-identificadas-en-peninsula-valdes-durante-casi-cinco-decadas