Yesterday (Thu 19th Jun) afternoon, the CRRU team was alerted by the public to a group of sperm whales in the inner Moray Firth sighted in dangerously shallow waters. It it always a concern when we hear about these deep diving toothed whales in such shallow waters, as they invariably become stranded, but it isn't unknown to occasionally encounter small bachelor groups in these waters, so our immediate priority was to check out the group to establish their well-being.
We located the group and launched a drone to record and assess any unusual behaviours and to check for any signs of potential entanglement (the CRRU boats are fully equipped for this very such scenario). A total of 8 animals were recorded, which can be counted in the drone video below (filmed from a height of 90 metres).
We were accompanied by North 58 Sea Adventures - Findhorn, who had joined us to assist, and keeping a very respectful distance, we were pleased to find no evidence of entanglement and confirm all the animals were indeed males (confirmed by the prominent raised ridge on the head, displayed by sexually-dimorphic male sperm whales) - the largest individual measuring an estimated 13.3 metres from the drone photogrammetry.
Once we had established the group seemed to be okay, and were pleasingly observed moving in an E to NE direction into deeper waters, we carefully approached the animals to take identification photographs of each whale, necessary to provide important records in case any of the group subsequently became stranded.
We are grateful to receive any further shore reports and will continue to monitor the situation with our colleagues at the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, who are aware of the animals. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the group will find their way to deeper waters and will give rise to no further welfare concerns.
As a dedicated rescue organisation, we respectfully appeal to boat operators NOT to approach these whales and maintain a very respectful distance of at least 500 metres (in view of this very delicate situation). Police Scotland North East are now also fully aware of the precarious situation and will be enforcing this restriction to ALL vessels in order to ensure the welfare of the animals and the safety of the general public alike.'