Behavioural responses to swimming with dolphins in the Azores

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azores.delphis.project

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•Swim-with-🐬 in Azores🏝️
•🐬Behavioral Responses
•PhD-AI-Drone🤖
•Sci Comm🎤
•Marine 🫍Conservation
•Research:@uniwageningen @universidadedosacores

https://www.azoresdelphisproject.wixsite.com/project/project

Are whale-watching companies ceasing to offer swimming-with-dolphins? 🐬

Swimming with dolphins sounds magical. But wild dolphins aren't like Flipper. They have calves to protect, food to find, and rest, and they don't always want company. At the Bienal das Baleias, research showed that dolphins mostly avoided the vessels and approached them in only 1% of encounters. Calves and newborns were there during most of the encounters.

And here's the exciting part: things are changing in the Azores and other Portuguese islands! 🌊 Several tour operators have reduced or completely stopped their swimming-with-dolphins activities. When science is shared and put into practice, change really does follow. ✨

Curious about what happened and what our own research is showing?

Read the full update on our blog: https://azoresdelphisproject.wixsite.com/project/post/are-companies-ceasing-to-offer-swim-with-dolphin-activities. Link in bio 🔗

#Azores #dolphins #commondolphin #responsibletourism #whalewatching #marineconservation #AzoresDelphisProject

🎉PUBLICATION ALERT

Our paper, “UAV-based dolphin tracking enables automated quantification of spatial group cohesion in natural and exposure settings,” is out in Marine Mammal Science!

🐬 Why does this matter?

Traditional visual observations on group-living animals have long struggled to deliver reliable, repeatable spatial metrics, meaning: how close together or how far apart large, dynamic dolphin groups swim. We set out to change that!

🚁 What did we build? An automated pipeline integrating UAV technology using tilted gimbal angle to improve visibility underwater, object detection, georeferencing, and inter-individual distance quantification that:

✅ Improves data quality and collection

✅ Automates labor-intensive processes

✅ Dramatically reduces processing time

✅ Is user-friendly for ecologists!

🏊 And we put it to the test in the real world. We applied our methods to one of the Azores’ most popular tourist activities — swim-with-dolphins — to quantify how this human interaction affects dolphin group cohesion and spatial behavior. Our study focused on Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in the waters of São Miguel, Azores, Portugal.

🙏 This was a true team effort with multiple experts coming together — a big thank you!!

A big thank you to collaborating whale watching companies: Azores Whale Watching TERRA AZUL Picos de Aventura Terra do Pico and @pedromiguel91748

A big thank you to the funding agencies: @cultuurfonds , @burgerszoo , KNAW - Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Jo Kolk Studiefonds, Catharine van tussenbroeks, @uniwageningen ECO2

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eK_sK6G9 link in bio

#UAV #animalmovement #CetaceanResearch #MachineLearning #anthropogenicdisturbance

Our talented collaborator and film producer @martinatrepczyk made this film on marine protected areas, or MPAs, for @oceanculturelife in the Azores, a place where biodiversity at sea is thriving, but also at risk. We shared our best drone footage taken on our research trips to show how truly amazing the Azores are, and how much it’s worth protecting. Let’s protect what we love. Share the word!
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All drone footage taken with research and drone permits collected by @fads.sea.photography and @sean.a.ocallaghan
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#atlanticocean #commondolphin #paradise #azores #marinebiologists #dolphin #dolphinresearch #azoresdelphisproject #mpa

MASSIVE BLUEFIN TUNA WITH DOLPHINS!
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2023, our last fieldwork season filled with tuna! These foraging spotted dolphins are suddenly accompanied by a massive bluefin tuna-watch til the end!!!!!!
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Drone footage taken with research permit DRPM/LEMASM 2023/005 and AAN permit 41460/2023
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2023 field-season is funded by Catharine van Tussenbroek
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Research boat used from Azores Whale Watching TERRA AZUL
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Equipment and research done at Wageningen Uni in collaboration with Uni of Azores
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#researching #research #dolphin #dolphins #commondolphins #commondolphin #delphinusdelphis #azoresdelphisproject #fieldwork #marinebiology #marinebiologists #atlanticocean #azores #saomiguel #dolphinresearch #wageningenuniversity #PhD #PhDing #PhDlife #fieldwork #fieldupdate #tuna #spotteddolphins #spotteddolphin #feedingfrenzy #tuna #massivetuna #drone #DJI #phantom #bluefintuna #thunnusthynnus

Ecs poster session!
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Dr. Lorenzo Fiori presented the first object detection results applied to the swim with dolphin experimental set-up in Sao Miguel, Azores, on behalf of @fads.sea.photography at the @europeancetaceansociety in Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal. We are excited to have finally presented our first results!
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Lorenzo is co-founder and is the foundation of the fieldwork of this project. With his vast experience from his completed PhD on the effect of swimming with humpback whales in Tonga: strong drone piloting skills, and experience collaborating with whale watching companies, he helped on the side of big decision making for this project. First of all, he taught @fads.sea.photography how to pilot a drone, was a drone pilot on this project, created and executed the fieldwork and experimental set up, turned into the fieldwork manager in the second year of the project, and continues to support with the statistics phase. Lorenzo brought the quality of this fieldwork to another level!!!
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On the right are @nhcp81 our main skipper who was more than just a skipper, but a team member, social media content creator, drone catcher, comedian, data input, deployment and retrieval of the swimmers, and safety on board, we call him the 🐙, a man of talents, multitasking, and patience. His help was extremely valuable and without his continuous availability to help us, and independence to conduct the standard fieldwork driving protocol, this project would also not have been possible.
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Next to him, @sean.a.ocallaghan who started off as a co-drone pilot and team member, and soon created his own PhD with part of his fieldwork in Azorean waters with his project @spermwhalescale ! Sean came to the rescue in 2021 when @fads.sea.photography had to handle the fieldwork season on her own. Sean continues to help out with the project and publications to follow.
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#ecs2025 #europeancetaceansociety #europeancetaceansocietyconference #ecs2025azores

*New student alert*

We brought our data to Texas, USA!
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Our new BSC. Student Soleil has been looking at common dolphin speeds in response to swimming with dolphin activities in the Azores. She has been supervised by dr. Dara Orbach and dr. Lorenzo Fiori at @lifesciencestamucc at the FABEMM (Functional Anatomy and Behavioural Ecology of Marine Mammals) lab in Texas, USA.
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Soleil has worked hard into getting her results in and has presented her results at the Texas Society for Mammalogists conference and more to come! See link to her conference abstract here and in instagram story:
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https://www.texasmammalogy.org/_files/ugd/d8e9a7_fe46ffe041364f51a026209749ed4f39.pdf
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#tsm2025 #azoresdelphisproject #texasamcc #atlanticocean #knawecology #wageningenuniversity #marinebiology #lifesciences #commondolphins #delphinusdelphis #commondolphin

Part 4: 2023 field season throwback! This was our last fidwork season, collecting the supplementary data that we were still missing. We stepped up our game by applying machine learning to our data and the expert himself came out with us on the boat! @aloha.conservation was our only Msc. student coming on board this year, and on the look out we had help from all our friends, but reliably @deserto_liquido as skipper, @filipe9686 and @nicole.costa.pereira on the look out for us finding common dolphins, and @sean.a.ocallaghan at sea on the other side of thr island (North coast) for another season with @spermwhalescale measuring sperm whales, and identifying them with UAVs, of which we now have a co authored paper written!
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This shorter season was funded by Catharine van Tussenbroek Foundation
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#saomiguel #paradise #azores #marinebiologists #atlanticocean #dolphin #dolphinresearch #researchgoesslowly #deepblue #research #fieldwork #fieldworkthrowback #summer20223 #fieldwork2023

The Hawaii of Europe...
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#azoresdelphisproject #azores #saomiguel #dolphinresearch #dolphin #paradise #atlanticocean #deepblue #marinebiologists #phantom4prov2 #drone

Part 3: 2022 fieldwork season comes together!!!! Drone pilot teacher Lorenzo Fiori is back on board full time, with student Drone pilot @fads.sea.photography, but this year piloting 2 drones at the same time!!! Along with @deserto_liquido hired full time as a skipper, the 3 are at sea whenever there is a window of opportunity! This year is also enhanced with a well trained land team that were helping us find the best sub-grouos of dolphins for our surveys! Msc. Students @annelodder, and @mariarosas1111 and researcher @margarida_rwh are a great team tracking the dolphins with a theodolite and sending the research vessel towards them! @laura_sailandwhale and @sean.a.ocallaghan tag along on some of our trips, but the main difference is that our teammember @sean.a.ocallaghan has returned to the Azores with his own project, @spermwhalescale and invited us as collaborators! On top of that we collaborated with a filmmaker @pablovarona_naturephotography
On a documentary on the priolo, a very special bird on Sao Miguel, Azores.
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This season was funded by #knawecologie
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#researchgoesslowly #saomiguel #paradise #azores #marinebiologists #atlanticocean #dolphin #research #commondolphin #dolphinresearch #phd #phdlife

Part 2: Azores delphis project is a reality! @fads.sea.photography secured funding for the fieldwork season of 2021, Lorenzo Fiori taught the second Drone pilot @fads.sea.photography to pilot the Drone too, collaborators @picosdeaventura and @terraazulazores support our field trips with vessel availability, skipper, and look out (on land) availability. All the biologists at the whale watching companies, but mostly @maria_hb_lalota help us on board when they are on their days off, Msc student @annegrundlehner joins us and starts the process of our data analysis with machine learning techniques, Msc. Student @luana__clementino joins with her acoustics project and helps a hand on board, @laura_sailandwhale helps improve our protocol and @anxo_beewhale with media, and @deserto_liquido starts to become the most keen skipper to help us out. Eternal thanks to the look outs @filipe9686 @nicole.costa.pereira and @milton5205 Ricardo Pacheco for helping us find common dolphins from land! Also the phantom 4 pro v2.0 Drone arrives, and so does the second Drone! It is the year that halfway through the season we get introduced to Drone pilot @sean.a.ocallaghan Who then becomes our teammember and collaborator!! See more in our 2022 reel highlights!
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This season was funded by @burgerszoo
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#azoresdelphisproject #azores #saomiguel#dolphinresearch #researchgoesslowly #dolphinresearch #research #dolphin #lucieburgers #stichtinglucieburgers #commondolphin #paradise#atlanticocean #delphinusdelphis #summer2021 #2021recap #2021covid

Views🥰getting closer to some results and enjoying these views more and more again
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#researchgoesslowly #dolphinresearch #research #dolphin #commondolphin #paradise #atlanticocean #deepblue #marinebiologists #azores #saomiguel #views #summer2022

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The project

What does"Azores delphis project" stand for? "Azores" is the archipelago where the project takes place: islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Portugal. We are situated on the island of São Miguel, the main and largest island of the Archipelago. "delphis" comes from the species that we study. The scientific name of common dolphin is Delphinus delphis. "Project" comes from what this started as: the overarching PhD of Fadia Al Abbar who looks at common dolphin interactions with tourism activities off the coast of São Miguel, Azores. Besides this PhD project we aim to understand more about the local population, site fidelity, and their interaction with swim-with-dolphin activities. We use Photo ID, a drone, acoustics, and land observations to study these species in their natural behavioural state and interactive state with tourist boats.

Blogs

We publish weekly updates when we are in the field, and we also write blogs about common dolphins around the Azores.

Are companies ceasing to offer Swim-with-dolphin activities?

It's been a while since our last update! Our research is still ongoing, and we have been following tourism activities and regulations around the Azores. Quite a few things have changed since the Azores Delphis Project started, and we will walk you through them. But first, we want to answer an important question: why are tour operators considering changes to their swimming with dolphins activities, or even stopping them altogether? Wild dolphins are not like Flipper Swimming w

Fadia Al Abbar

Oct 17 min read

Can a tracking algorithm designed for land mammals successfully track dolphins?

We are progressing! We have trained the machine to detect dolphins as dolphins and we applied a tracking algorithm to this object...

Fadia Al Abbar

Apr 2, 20241 min read

Não Sei?

2023 came to a strong start, with a grant from Catharine van Tussenbroek to fill the small gaps that we still had in our data. Although...

Fadia Al Abbar

Sep 4, 20234 min read

Instagram
#azoresdelphisproject

Current status

Our fieldwork has been terminated indefinitely. A PhD is currently being completed and publications are currently in progress...Stay tuned for our research outputs as well as updates on regulation advices and changes around swimming with dolphin activities around the Azores region.

Please only contact us if you are interested in using any of our data, have questions abour our research, or the process with the local legislations of swimming with dolphin activities. We apologize for any inconvenience! We will update our website and social media pages if anything changes.

Updated 1/10/2026

Behavioural responses to swimming with dolphins in the Azores

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azores.delphis.project

The project

Blogs

Are companies ceasing to offer Swim-with-dolphin activities?

Can a tracking algorithm designed for land mammals successfully track dolphins?

Não Sei?

Instagram #azoresdelphisproject

Current status

Instagram
#azoresdelphisproject