LD Lines, a leading European ferry and freight company, who have recently started new ferry services from the UK (Poole) to Spain (Santander and Gijón) and Ireland (Rosslare) to France (St Nazaire) and Spain (Gijón) has offered it’s help to the marine conservation charity MARINElife.

MARINElife has been given access to three routes aboard the Norman Asturias with all three, Poole to Santander, Poole to Gijón and Gijón to St Nazaire, going through the heart of marine-life paradise: the Bay of Biscay. MARINElife research has demonstrated that the bay, located off the coast of western France and northern Spain is a hotspot for many whale and dolphin species. MARINElife has been researching and surveying this vibrant area of ocean since 1995 and the support of LD Lines has ensured the conservation effort can continue.

The Bay of Biscay is especially important to a vast diversity of marine-life because beneath the waves of the bay, there are many deep water cliffs and canyons which create concentrated areas of food such as fish, squid and krill which in turn attracts larger marine mammals and seabirds. The Blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, is known to visit the area for feeding as well as many other species of whale and dolphin including the rarely spotted Beaked Whales.

Adrian Shephard from MARINElife said: “These ferry routes give MARINElife the opportunity to expand our vital conservation research in an extremely productive area for whales and dolphins and we deeply appreciate the assistance LD Lines have provided”.

A spokesman from LD Lines commented: “We are delighted to be supporting the inspirational research work of MARINElife via our UK – France – Spain services which traverse the Bay of Biscay. The vital conservation work they undertake will be extensively promoted on board as we are certain this will be of enormous interest to many of our travelling passengers”.

Conservation research is so important because many species of marine mammals remain threatened due to the pressures from environmental changes, over-fishing, whaling and marine pollution. MARINElife’s monitoring work is helping understand the changes in populations that are occurring and what action can be taken to safeguard their future.

MARINElife is confident the access offered by LD Lines will provide substantial data on marine mammals and seabirds in the area. Passengers crossing with LD Lines will also have the opportunity to look out for marine wildlife in its natural habitat by observing from the decks. Dolphin pods can be very large in Biscay and will often come in to bow ride and in the summer months, large numbers of 25 meter Fin Whales can be seen with their tall blows visible for miles.


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James Speyer