Fadia Al Abbar
Media & Contributions
Education and outreach are extremely important to make changes in the world. I have participated in several interviews and written blogs to reach the public. Additionally my photography has contributed to scientific publications and magazines.
Sound of the sperm whale pilot project
Sperm whales are deep divers and spend between 70 and 90% of their lives underwater. They spend that time foraging and use echolocation, in search of squids. We set up this feasibility study and collected acoustics data on sperm whales when they were foraging. We then linked the fluke ID to the recording. Read the season update here.
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Dutch marine mamal conference
We organized the dutch marine mammal conferences two times (2018 and 2019) where we organized nature photography competitions. In the photo we were announcing the winner of the DFDS cruise and the PR statistics course. See more about this conference here.
Organizing bird week at Picos de Aventura whale watching
We organized a bird week with the whale watching company where the bird expert Steve Geelhoed was invited to do lectures on birds and try to listen to other bird species at night. I helped with the logistics of the project.
A stranded Sowerby's beaked whale
In 2018 we had been redirected to a stranded beaked whale. This individual was alive not too long ago as we had reports and photos where it was still alive. Unfortunately, when we arrived, it did not look good. Already wearing my wetsuit from the swim-with-dolphin activity, I jumped in the water to determine if there was movement from the blow-hole or any other movements. Unfortunately, it had died and was in a post-mortem state. Stranded beaked whales are a rare event, and Jeroen Creuwels wrote an interesting article about them, using this photo that I took on that day. Read the article here.
ORCAweb First Prize Photography!
This picture was taken on the Cargo ship survey of CETUS Project, traveling to Madeira Island. The wind was beaufort 0 meaning there was no wind at all. This photo was taken from above the water and because the sea was so calm, it looked like we were swimming with them.
Whale sharks in Madagascar
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Gaspar, the white porpoise, photo used in publication
My very first voluntary survey on dolphins started in Malaysia. This was my career orienting trip, and I obviously loved it. We found many dolphin species, including a dead finless porpoise. We worked on conservation activities and cleaned another dead dolphin's skeleton for the show. The newsletter can be read here.
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Coral reef conservation Edepot Wageningen, photographs used
On my holidays I went diving a lot. I always liked to dive with a purpose, so my purpose was always contibuting to conservation and research. Jelle de Ruiter wrote a piece on coral reefs degrading and added my photos. Read the article here.
