On the 16th November, I went to Valpark which is near my home, to trial our survey questionnaires. The questionnaires were received well and people were interested in hearing about the local whales and dolphins. Almost everyone knew that there were whales and dolphins locally but most believed that there were very few (<5) species rather than at least 14 and many were not aware of the threats they faced locally. We are also getting an idea of the public's perception of these animals and the things they find important about them. Thus far we can see that public knowledge and awareness is fairly low but interest is high, which means that education activities can make a difference in the future. There were a few small changes made to the questionnaires as a result of the trial and the information has been databased. Now we just need some willing volunteers to help us get this survey done by 1st December. Alesha
