Funding for a charity working to help protect dolphins, whales and porpoises in Cardigan Bay, is “severely at risk”.

The Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project is the “flagship” project of the Sea Watch Foundation (SWF), based in New Quay.

Under the project, the foundation has been studying the only semi-resident population of bottlenose dolphins in Wales, and the largest in the UK, since 2000.

Katrin Lohrengel, monitoring officer for SWF, said: “Unfortunately due to a combination of factors such as Brexit and Covid-19, the funding for our 20-year monitoring project is severely at risk and we’re working hard to try to raise funds.”

From 22 April to 29 April, SWF held a the Big Give fundraising drive and managed to raise £5,140 for the project.

But while this is a “great start” for the project, they are in need of more donations to maintain the project in the long term.

Katrin added: “While this is a great start, we are still in need of additional funding to keep the project running in the long term, the total cost of the project per year is over £30,000 (including staff salary, boat surveys, office rental and equipment) and we are currently running it on our limited charity reserves, so any contribution is still greatly appreciated!

“We have made a number of funding applications to various funding bodies, however, with the current situation, this is even more competitive than usual as a lot of charities are going after the same funding pots.

“People are can support us by adopting a dolphin, becoming a member, or donating directly.

“Dolphin adoption can either be on a personal level but there’s also options for schools of classes to adopt a dolphin and we are currently considering options for businesses to sponsor a dolphin as well.

“There are also non-monetary ways to support the charity, such as volunteering with us or reporting cetacean sightings using our new Sea Watcher App.”

The team have also released videos about Cardigan Bay dolphins, including a short video on the project and why funding is needed. These videos are available to watch on their YouTube channel.

A spokesperson for SWF said: “Cardigan Bay is home to a variety of unique habitats and marine wildlife such as bottlenose dolphins, and in recognition of this, two Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), the Cardigan Bay SAC and the Pen Llyn a’r Sarnau SAC, have been designated under the EU Habitats Directive.

“SWF’s work in Cardigan Bay was instrumental in the initial designation and since then we have worked closely with Natural Resources Wales, Ceredigion County Council and other organisations such as Joint Nature Conservation Committee to continue to monitor the Cardigan Bay population of bottlenose dolphins and ensure their survival.”

The Sea Watch Foundation was founded as a charity and a limited company in 1991 by Dr Peter Evans and Paul Vodden.

For more information on how to support the project, visit the website at www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk.