Watch these captivating dolphins enjoying themselves a few miles from the mouth of the River Tyne.
Graeme Sharkey from Gateshead says it was a “privilege” to see the beautiful animals up close.
He spent the sunny Bank Holiday Monday on the water with a couple of friends.
But a great weekend was about to get even better for them.
Graeme was stunned by the 20-strong dolphin pod about four miles out from the coast. Take a look at his video above.
Still from Graeme Sharkey’s video up close to dolphins in the North Sea
You can see them leaping out of the water and swimming right alongside the boat.
The 57-year-old said: “We saw one, then another, then we looked around and they were just everywhere. It was absolutely amazing to see so many of them.
“We’ve been out before when there have been one or two and after a moment they are gone.
“But they must’ve been alongside our boat for the best part of half an hour. Every time we tried to move off they would follow alongside.”
While dolphins are not uncommon off the coast of Northumberland they are still a stunning sight.
Graeme, a customer services officer, said it was the perfect way to cap off the weekend.
He said: “It had been a lovely weekend. If we had decided to go out 10 minutes earlier or later the dolphins might not have been there.
“It’s a privilege to see something like that. When they swim alongside the boat it’s as if they are doing it just for you.”
There a number of different species of cetaceans which call the North Sea home.
These include common bottlenose dolphins, white beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises.
Even killer whales have been spotted near Seahouses over the weekend.
Graeme, an instructor with Hebburn Sea Cadets, knows just how special the North East’s coast is.
He said: “There’s so much out there once you get out on the water. You don’t realise how much there is.
“We’ve got such a beautiful coastline, seeing it from the water it just changes the perspective.”
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Nature lovers were left horrified as they watched a group of jet skiers apparently speed towards a pod of dolphins playing in the mouth of the Tyne.
Northumbria Police is investigating reports of people on jet skis “harassing” dolphins near North Shields Fish Quay, just after 8pm on Thursday.
The incident was captured on video by Andrea Blunt who claimed three people on jet skies had appeared to turn intentionally in the direction of the marine mamals.
She said: “This was truly shocking to watch and appeared a deliberate act as the pod was very obvious.
“They steered towards the dolphins and went straight for them where the last dolphin had only breeched seconds before. This was appalling behaviour and so so upsetting.”
A second woman said she had seen the incident while watching the dolphins with her daughter.
She said: “I had to stop video as my little girl was so upset she screamed ‘they are going to hit the babies’, as the dolphins had their calves.”
Dolphin expert Dr Ivor Clark, who runs Newbiggin by the Sea Dolphin Watch, said the footage had left him “very very angry”.
“Generally dolphins are good at avoiding vessels, the problem with jet skis is their maneuverability, they can turn very very quickly and even with their capabilities dolphins can’t always move quickly enough to get out of the way,” he said.
“I could foresee this happening simply because we have so many dolphins here now, and when you combine that with the fact that they are coming closer and closer to shore, there is a risk. Dolphins have long memories and, at the end of the day, it’s negative human activity that will drive them away.
“This probably isn’t going to go away and it will potentially get worse until the authorities clamp down on it.”
Northumbria Police said the force is investigating “any possible criminal activity including potential speeding laws being broken or wildlife laws” as a result of the incident.
Acting Marine Sergeant Paul Spedding added: “Everyone has a responsibility to protect our wildlife and anyone found to be in breach of any laws will be prosecuted.
“It is illegal to harass, feed, chase and touch Marine mammals in the wild and we’re urging all water users to be vigilant and respectful.
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“If dolphins do approach you then maintain a slow, steady speed and refrain from turning back towards them.
“Keep your distance and never get closer than 100m and if you’re unsure of their direction then simply stop and put the engine in neutral.
“Human interaction can have devastating effects on wildlife so we are reminding the public to enjoy from a safe and respectful distance so others can enjoy them too.”
The world’s oceans are facing a “new industrial frontier” from a fledgling deep-sea mining industry as companies line up to extract metals and minerals from some of the most important ecosystems on the planet, a report has found.
The study by Greenpeace revealed that although no mining had started on the ocean floor, 29 exploration licences had been issued covering an area five times bigger than the UK. Environmentalists said the proposed mining would threaten not only crucial ecosystems but the global fight against climate breakdown.
Louisa Casson, an ocean campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “The health of our oceans is closely linked to our own survival. Unless we act now to protect them, deep-sea mining could have devastating consequences for marine life and humankind.”
The licences, issued by a United Nations body, the International Seabed Authority, have been granted to a handful of countries that sponsor private companies. They cover vast areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, totalling 1.3m sq km (500,000 sq miles).
If the mining goes ahead, large machines will be lowered on to the seabed to excavate cobalt and other rare metals.
Campaigners said that, as well as destroying little understood regions of the ocean floor, the operations would deepen the climate emergency by disrupting carbon stores in seafloor sediments, reducing the ocean’s ability to store it.
The industry has said deep-sea mining is essential to extract the materials needed for a transition to a green economy by supplying raw materials for key technologies including batteries, computers and phones. Its advocates say deep-sea mining is less harmful to the environment and workers than most existing mineral and mining operations.
However, the report said: “The deep-sea mining industry presents its development as essential for a low-carbon future, yet this claim is not substantiated by actors in the renewable energy, electric vehicle or battery sectors. Such arguments ignore calls for a move from the endless exploitation of resources to a transformational and circular economy.”
The environmentalist Chris Packham, writing in the Guardian, said deep-sea mining posed a serious threat to global oceans.
“We’ve already seen the huge destruction ravaged upon our planet by corporations mining on land. Are we really prepared to give the go-ahead to the mining industry expanding into a new frontier, where it will be even harder for us to scrutinise the damage caused?”
The report called on governments to agree on a strong global ocean treaty in the next 12 months, citing scientists, governments, environmentalists and representatives of the fishing industry, who warned of the threat posed by deep-sea mining to marine life.
The report said the UK government held licences to exploit more of the international seabed than any government apart from China. It accused ministers of positioning the government as a leader on marine protection while simultaneously investing in deep-sea mining.
Casson said: “We need the UK government to show strong global leadership and champion ocean protection. They have backed the call for global action to safeguard our oceans but they are also a leading advocate for deep-sea mining. Such hypocrisy is unacceptable.”
A government spokesperson said: “The UK continues to press for the highest international environmental standards, including on deep sea mineral extraction. We have sponsored two exploration licences, which allows scientific marine research to fully understand the effects of deep sea mining and we will not issue a single exploitation licence without a full assessment of the environmental impact.”
But in reality, they’re the misunderstood good boys of the sea.
Sharks aren’t looked upon kindly in popular culture and don’t get much sympathy in public opinion. They are widely regarded as cold-blooded killers with mean, dead little eyes, who are only satisfied when they’re ripping the legs off unsuspecting swimmers and gobbling children up whole.
However, this stereotype of sharks as evil, bloodthirsty sea monsters who love to attack human isn’t accurate.
Sharks kill approximately five humans every year, compared to horses who kill 20 and cows 22. Alligators, a prehistoric predator just like sharks, cause the deaths of 1,000 humans each year.
We each have a 1 in 63 chance of dying from the flu and a 1 in 3,700,000 chance of being killed by a shark.
More importantly, we really need sharks. If we care at all about the health of our oceans, sharks as a species are vital.
Sharks are the apex predators of the sea. They sit at the very top of the food chain, alongside killer whales (who routinely coax baby whales away from their mums to kill them but bizarrely are looked upon far more kindly than sharks). If the shark population dwindles, then the marine ecosystem can become dangerously unbalanced.
Sharks are necessary for keeping the populations of their prey healthy. They tend to only hunt old, injured, or sick fish, grooming or streamlining many populations of sea creatures to keep them to a size where they won’t grow too big and damage the ecosystem.
This practice of hunting sick or slow prey might sound horrible, but it prevents disease from ravaging prey populations and stops potentially devastating outbreaks. It encourages the gene pool of the prey species to strengthen, so that the strongest and healthiest fish can reproduce in greater numbers.
Silky sharks gather in big schools around Roca Partida Island as part of their mating ritual. (Picture: Rodrigo Friscione)
Sharks are considered a ‘keystone’ species. This means that if they are removed from the food chain, the whole structure could collapse.
Without sharks regulating the ecosystem underwater, vital habitats would undergo serious damage. In Hawaii, sharks have been linked to the health of sea grass beds, because they control the population of the turtles that graze on the sea grass. Without sharks eating the turtles, they were able overgraze on concentrated areas of sea grass and as a consequence, destroyed their own habitat.
According to research from the University of Western Australia, sharks are also necessary for the health of coral reefs.
Researchers found that areas of reef with healthy shark populations were where small reef fish were thriving. These small fish care for the corals, and where sharks were present in optimum numbers, the corals were recovering fasting from bleaching and flooding, ad showing a greater resistance to disease.
This is particularly important because the world’s corals are increasingly under threat, and although they cover a relatively small percentage of the ocean floor, they are vital for the health of the ocean and the health of the planet.
Unfortunately, too few people understand the importance of sharks.
(Picture: Ken Kiefer 2)
A national opinion poll commissioned by the UK charity Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation recently revealed that 46% of Brits would prefer an ocean without sharks.
This is sad, but not surprising when we consider what a bad rap sharks have been getting ever since Jaws premiered in 1975.
The poor public perception of sharks is also making efforts to save the sharks difficult. People are more likely to care about the evils of the ivory trade or big game hunting, because elephants, lions, tigers, cheetahs, and so on are considered cuddlier.
Underwater, dolphin and whale conservation is prioritised above sharks because they are viewed in a more positive ways and people are more willing to donate to causes that feature them.
Sharks desperately need our support.
Although people might be frightened of sharks, humans are the real monsters here. We are killing sharks in vast numbers, murdering approximately 100 million of these fascinating and supremely well-adapted creatures every years.
Sharks are killed for shark fin soup, an expensive delicacy in parts of Asia, which can be sold for up to $100 a bowl. In China, it’s seen as a mark of status and refinement to serve shark fin soup at a wedding. Increases in wealth for the Chinese middle class has enabled more people than ever to be able to afford shark fin soup, massively increasing demand for the product and devastating shark populations.
When sharks are caught, their fins are cut off and they are throw back into the water, still alive, to bleed to death. A single shark will only create a couple of bowls of soup. The whole process is wasteful and inhumane, causing great suffering to the animal involved.
Even famously hard-bitten and sweary Chef Gordon Ramsay says: ‘[Shark finning] is the worst act of animal cruelty I’ve ever seen.’
The Dalhousie University in Canada analysed life data from 62 species of sharks and found that only 4.9% of sharks can be killed each year – anything more will threaten the long term survival of species including the oceanic white tip, porbeagle and several types of hammerheads. Currently, between 6.4% and 7.9% of sharks across all species are being killed annually.
(Picture: Getty)
To make matters worse, sharks produce few offspring and take long periods to mature, meaning that it’s very difficult to replenish shark populations.
If we don’t protect sharks, we put the health of ocean habitats, marine life populations and the planet as a whole at risk.
To assuage the doubts of anyone who’s still not sure about sharks, we spoke to Graham Buckingham, campaign director of Bite-Back.
Hi Graham! How long have you worked with or studied sharks?
I’ve been diving with sharks for 17 years and I launched Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation in 2004.
Sharks are fascinating creatures. Can you tell us why they’re so amazing?
Sharks are the lions and the leopards of the oceans.
There are over 480 species of sharks. The largest, the whale shark, can grow to the size of a single decker London bus. The smallest, the pygmy shark, is the length of a pencil.
Sharks boast three more senses than humans — electroreceptors on their snouts (called the ampullae of Lorenzini) that help detect electricity (muscle movement) in prey, lateral lines that run down both sides of the body to help sense vibrations in the water, and pit organs, a series of hair cells located in the gills and the pectoral fins that help detect changes in water temperature and currents.
(Picture: wildestanimal)
Sharks have been swimming in our oceans since before dinosaurs walked the earth and survived six mass extinctions.
How dangerous are sharks to humans?
Typically, there are no more than seven fatalities from shark encounters every year worldwide.
British cows kill as many people each year as all the sharks in the world, combined. Last year more people died from bee stings, dog bites, lightning strikes, toasters, ladders and falling vending machines.
Only three sharks have been linked to multiple (double digit) human fatalities since records began — the great white, the bull and the tiger.
We did some research recently that shows that 64% of Brits think that sharks are more terrifying than snakes, spiders and rodents combined.
We believe that the public’s fear and loathing of sharks is hindering shark conservation efforts, contributing to the demise of these majestic creatures.
How do human activities threaten sharks?
The biggest threat to shark population is industrial fishing. Global fishing fleets are catching 73 million sharks a year, that’s roughly two every second. And nature can’t keep up.
Because there are no international or European catch limits for most sharks caught in the Atlantic, Spain, France, Portugal and Britain rank in the top 25 shark fishing nations in the world.
In a heartbreaking scene in Blue Planet, a mother whale nurses a dying calf – thought to have been killed by microplastics, tiny fragments of plastic in the sea….
The Canadian parliament approved the ‘Free Willy’ bill on Monday, four years after it was first introduced to the Senate. It was named after a 1993 movie in which a boy frees a captive orca.
Watch a lucky kayaker’s incredible meeting with a huge pod of dolphins off Blyth Beach.
Scott Anderson, 32, from Killingworth, said his encounter with the beautiful creatures was “amazing”.
But his video was almost ruined by a splash of water on the camera.
Scott was riding the waves at Blyth last Saturday when the dolphins caught his attention.
He said: “I saw a couple of splashes come up and thought it was just birds.
“Then I saw three or four dolphins come out of the water and just thought ‘Oh my God’.
“I was sprinting along the beach with my kayak and was straight out to them.”
Scott, a legal procurement consultant, has been kayaking for a couple of years but bought his own boat last September.
He regularly goes out to sea and has had encounters with seals, but dolphins were the ones he had been “hoping for”.
The 32-year-old estimated the pod was about 50-strong as he could see the mammals “all around”.
Scott said: “It was just an amazing experience. To be that close to them as well.
“They are a lot more confident than the seals. For a while they were just playing alongside and I could see them swimming underneath the kayak. It was just great.
“They don’t have to come anywhere near you but you I’m just so glad they did.”
After having the dolphins’ company for about 15 minutes, the kayaker headed back to shore.
He was worried his helmet camera might not have captured the amazing moment.
In fact a splash had covered the centre of the lens after he had powered through a wave on his way out to the pod.
Scott has sent his video to the Sea Watch Foundation to identify the species in the clip, but thinks they may be bottlenose dolphins.
He said: “I was worried about if it had recorded and if the angle was right.
“It didn’t really matter about the water on the camera to be honest.
“I was more glad I got to see it with my own eyes, but it’s nice for my friends and family to see it.
“I nearly didn’t even take the camera with us. It just shows you should always have it with you as you never know what could happen.”
The Northumberland Coast has seen a great number of sightings of rare and wonderful sea life.
If you are interested in finding out more about North Sea whale and dolphin spotting, read our guide on what you can see off our coasts.
The president of the Seychelles has made a global plea for stronger protection of the “beating blue heart of our planet”, in a striking speech delivered from deep below the ocean’s surface. Danny Faure’s call for action, billed as the first-ever live speech from a submersible, came during a visit to an ambitious British-led science expedition exploring the Indian Ocean depths. “Oceans cover over two-thirds of the world’s surface but remain, for the most part, uncharted. We have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor,” Faure said. “This issue is bigger than all of us, and we cannot wait for the next generation to solve it. We are running out of excuses to not take action, and running out of time.” The president was speaking from a manned submersible 120 metres (400ft) below the waves, on the seabed off the outer islands of the African nation. Wearing a Seychelles T-shirt and shorts, Faure said after his speech that the experience was “so, so cool”. It made him more determined than ever to speak out for marine protection, he said. “We just need to do what needs to be done. The scientists have spoken.” The oceans’ role in regulating the climate and the threats it faces are underestimated by many, even though, as Faure pointed out, they generate “half of the oxygen we breathe”. Scientific missions are crucial in taking stock of underwater ecosystems’ health. Climate change to drive migration from island homes sooner than thought Read more Small island nations are among the most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change. Land erosion, dying coral reefs and the increased frequency of extreme weather events threaten their existence. During the expedition, marine scientists from the University of Oxford have surveyed underwater life, mapped large areas of the sea floor and explored the depths with manned submersibles and underwater drones. Little is known about the oceans below depths of 30 metres, the limit to which a normal scuba diver can go. Operating down to 500 metres, the scientists were the first to explore areas of great diversity where sunlight weakens and the deep ocean begins. By the end of the mission, researchers expect to have conducted more than 300 deployments, collected about 1,400 samples and 16 terabytes of data and surveyed about 25,000 sq metres (269,100 sq ft) of seabed using high-resolution multi-beam sonar equipment. The data will be used to help the Seychelles expand its policy of protecting almost a third of its national waters by 2020. The initiative is important for the country’s “blue economy”, an attempt to balance development needs with those of the environment. “From this depth, I can see the incredible wildlife that needs our protection, and the consequences of damaging this huge ecosystem that has existed for millennia,” Faure said in his speech. “Over the years, we have created these problems. We can solve them.” About 5% of the world’s oceans are protected. Countries have agreed to increase the area to 10% by 2020. But experts and environmental campaigners say between 30% and 50% of the oceans outside nations’ territorial waters should get protected status to ensure marine biodiversity.
The world’s oceans have become more stormy during the past three decades, according to the largest and most detailed study of its kind.
The findings add to concerns that as the world gets hotter, extreme events such as storms and floods could become more frequent and more devastating in their impact.
Slight increases in average wave height and wind speed were recorded in oceans across the globe, with the strongest effects in the Southern Ocean. The study relied on data from 31 satellites and more than 80 ocean buoys collected between 1985 and 2018, with about 4 billion observations.
Extreme winds in the Southern Ocean have increased by 1.5 metres per second, or 8%, over the past 30 years, while the highest waves have increased in height by 30 centimetres, or 5%. The strongest winds increased in the equatorial Pacific and Atlantic and the North Atlantic by about 0.6 metres per second.
Prof Ian Young, the first author of the work from the University of Melbourne, said: “Although increases of 5 and 8% might not seem like much, if sustained into the future such changes to our climate will have major impacts.”
Young said that increases in wave height could lead to more serious flooding and coastal erosion, and put offshore structures such as wind farms at risk of damage.
Climate change making storms like Idai more severe, say experts
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The researchers said the observations were in line with predictions by climate models and from historical records that suggested that as the world got hotter, weather and storms became more extreme, although the relationship was complex and not fully understood.
“The role climate change plays in wind speed and hence wave height is still not clear,” said Young.
Others said that the role of global warming in the latest observations was yet to be established. “It’s a bit difficult to extrapolate these finding to the wider picture,” said Dr Paulo Ceppi, of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London. “During 30-year periods you can still have pretty significant natural variations in winds.”
Ceppi said that the observed changes in the Southern Ocean were likely to be driven by the hole in the ozone layer, in the Antarctic stratosphere, to a greater extent than global warming – although this could also be contributing.
The study, published in the journal Science, updates previous work from the same team published nearly a decade ago. A major challenge in compiling long-running data series, they said, is accounting for significant changes in technology and data processing over the time period. For the earliest part of the time period the coverage was not as extensive and the measurements were less accurate. The scientists needed to rule out the possibility that they were simply seeing more violent storms because there are now more satellites to spot them, for instance.
The findings also suggest that conditions in the Southern Ocean are becoming more treacherous for ships. According to Young, more intense storms circling the Southern Ocean can also generate larger ocean swells that propagate across the Indian, Pacific and South Atlantic. “Increasing wave conditions in the Southern Ocean impact regions across the globe,” he said.
