The Atlantic Ocean Cetacean Network (AOCN) ​

The AOCN aims to bring together individuals and organisations from across the region working toward the conservation and protection of our whales and dolphins. The AOCN aims to be a free platform to promote activities and enlist support- volunteers, funding, expert advice- for the organisations within the network.

If your organisation would like to join the AOCN, or if you would like to support its development, please send details to ed@whalenation.org.

Whales and Dolphins of the Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean are home to a great many species of whale and dolphin. The AOCN will build into a comprehensive portal of all that is known about these cetaceans and, as importantly, all that is not known.


​We know that the Blue whale and Northern Right whale populations are unlikely to recover from the aggressive whale-hunting driven by the USA in the 1930’s; but we don’t understand why the Southern Right whale population has recovered and is healthy! We know that the Vaquita and Amazon River Dolphins are critically endangered and we know who the culprits are, in the case of the former it is one fishing fleet with a single owner!, but we still seem unable to ‘do anything’ about their plight. With most migratory species our knowledge is hopelessly inadequate- we do not understand their migration routes or the threats that they are facing.
The aim of the AOCN is to identify gaps in our knowledge and serious conservation threats. These will inform our grant making awards.

Our Research So Far

In collaboration with Tenerife’s whale watching industry, volunteers with the Atlantic Whale Foundation have, over the last fifteen years, build world class research databases covering:
  1. Resident Short Finned Pilot Whales off the SW coast of Tenerife
  2. Resident Bottlenose Dolphin community off of the SW coast of Tenerife
  3. Migrating species sighted off the SW coast of Tenerife. (18 species to date)
Research developed through The Atlantic Whale Foundation Based on research work carried out by volunteers with the AWF over the last twenty years- photo identification of individual whales and dolphins linked to behavioral data, boat data and such as time, weather conditions and GPS.

AOCN projects’ looking for support:

The following projects are looking for support. If you or your school, local community or place of work want to actively ‘make a difference’ then you could form a direct collaboration with any one of these organisations. This is a chance for you to make a direct contribution to the protection of whales and dolphins.
  • Cape Verdean Ecotourism Association - Research
  • Cork Nature Network - Education
  • Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme - Research
  • Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas - Research and Ecotourism
  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS - Research
  • Ketos Ecology - Research
  • African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (AMMCO) - Research / education
  • Nova Atlantis Foundation - Research
  • University of Quintana Roo - Research
  • The Laboratório de Mamíferos Aquáticos e Bioindicadores “Prof Izabel Gurgel” (MAQUA) - Research
  • Duke University Marine Lab - ResearchKarina Bohrer do Amaral - Research
  • Whale and Dolphin Conservation - Research
  • Ocean Sounds - Research and education
  • Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio Grande do Sul (GEMARS) - Research and Education
  • Dyer Island Conservation Trust - Research