Desgagnés and the Marine Mammals Research Network team up again

Groupe Desgagnés and the Marine Mammals Research Network (le Réseau d’observation des mammifères marins – ROMM) have renewed their partnership. Groupe Desgagnés initially participated last year in a data collection program on cetaceans led by the research organization. Based on this successful first year of collaboration, Groupe Désgagnés has encouraged the crews aboard 18 of its vessels to collect data en route during the 2016 sailing season.

More than 280 marine mammal observations were collected by ship crews during their various trips in the salt waters of Quebec, as well as Eastern and Northern Canada, between early April 2015 and the very end of December that same year. They significantly enriched the ROMM database, accounting for more than 16% of the whale data transmitted by the network’s dozen observer members. In addition to surveying territories not yet covered by observer members, the Desgagnés crews transmitted exceptional data on rarely observed species, including black whales, killer whales and northern bottlenose whales.

Every vessel has a manual on board that was jointly developed by ROMM and Desgagnés to assist crews in data collection and more particularly to help them identify the species encountered.