BECOME AN OBSERVER
OBSenMER is a collaborative platform that facilitates the recording and analysis of observations at sea. It covers all types of observations: marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and birds, as well as human activities such as yachting, fishing, pollution, etc.
OBSenMER is aimed at both the general public and professional naturalist organizations, and collects both participatory science data and data from expert protocols.
DOWNLOAD THE OBSENMER APP ON YOUR SMARTPHONE
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OBSenMER is a free application available for Android and IOS smartphones and tablets with wifi access or a SIM card.
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Create an account and add zone: French Polynesia and as “Structure de rattachement”: Oceania so your data can be used by the association if they are collected in the South Pacific.
OBSERVE FROM LAND OR SEA
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Spot observation (level 1)
allows you to quickly note and report species observed at a given time and place during sea outings
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Observation with effort (level 2)
Introduces the notion of “observation effort”. For a minimum of 15 minutes, the observer keeps an attentive watch and notes the species encountered during this period in real time, whether on land at a fixed point or at sea on board a ship along a route.
ENTER OBSERVATION DATA
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The application also works offline. This means you can enter your data in the field. Your data will be updated as soon as you have access to a wifi connection.
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When you start entering your observation, you are asked to select a program, choose “no program” and then continue.
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The data collected are: the confidence index of the observation, the GPS coordinates (retrieved directly by the application), the species observed and any comments you may have.
When you go whale watching, bring your camera and take wonderful tail fin images to help identify the whales and follow their history.
PREPARING YOUR CAMERA
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Have a minimum 300 mm lens
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Make sure you match the local time where you're whale-watching. Set your camera's time and date.
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Select an action photography setting. Use fast shutter speeds (or “sport” mode).
AKE A PHOTO OF THE WHALE'S TAIL
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Keep an eye out! You never know when a whale might appear.
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Take lots of photos of the underside of the tail.
ATTENTION: the flipper must be whole!
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Be respectful of wildlife.
CREATE AN ACCOUNT AND UPLOAD THE PHOTO TO THE HAPPYWHALE WEBSITE
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Submit your images to the site. Upload all your whale images. The Happywhale team will determine which are the best for identification.
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Give as much information as possible about the location of the sighting and the name of the ship.
Did you know?
The fluke is the whale's identity card.
The shape and pigmentation of the ventral side of the humpback's fluke are unique!
Over the years, this has enabled us to create catalogs of individuals by geographic zone. When the same individual is photographed a second time, it's called a recapture!