Article written by Steve Hartley:

"I first got into cetaceans when I was a commercial fisherman based here more than 20 years ago. I then got involved taking various scientists out on surveys covering Cardigan Bay and the Irish Sea in the 1980s.

In the early 1990s, I started an angling operation and soon discovered that I was far more interested in seeing whales and dolphins that I was in taking people out to get themselves photographed with a fish they'd just killed. After that a friend suggested that I start doing wildlife-watching trips for the paying public who now fund our research. Around this time, I also set up the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre.

Over the years, I've been involved as boatman for a number of surveys in Cardigan Bay and the Irish Sea. In the 1980s, I took scientists out to carry out hydrophone and photo ID surveys.

Currently, the main focus of our research is photo ID of dolphins within the SAC. In 2005 we produced the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre Bottlenose dolphin Photo-identification catalogue. In this we identified over 130 individual dolphins. The catalogue will be updated annually and can be downloaded from the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre's website. This is the only Welsh bottlenose dolphin photo-id catalogue that is available to download.

Cardigan Bay is fantastic for wildlife. As well as the bottlenose dolphin, we also get harbour porpoises locally and grey seals (which also breed in the area). The birdlife is excellent with lots of Manx Shearwaters, Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, gulls, Cormorants, Shags, Gannets, Peregrines and Choughs. The Irish Sea is also good for Minke Whales, Common and Risso's Dolphins, Basking Sharks, Sunfish and the occasional Leatherback Turtle.

One of the main things that we've learnt are that there are particularly important feeding areas for the dolphins in the Bay, especially around headlands. We also think that the dolphins may come here to calve in the relative shelter that the bay provides. However, we really need to carry out more surveys further north in the bay to see how important northern areas are for the dolphins.

The main threat to cetaceans anywhere is a shortage of food due to overfishing. In the bay, this is not so much of a problem as the local fishing industry is small scale and has very little impact. I am concerned, however, about the catch of migratory fish outside the bay, which would normally come into the area.

Inappropriate boat behaviour around the dolphins is also a problem. All of the commercial dolphin-watching operators in the area act according to a voluntary code of conduct, but private vessels can still cause problems, especially by scaring animals away from sensitive feeding areas. As with everywhere else, industrial pollution may also be a problem with toxic materials bio-accumulating up the food chain into top predators like the dolphins.

I really hope that the bay will continue to support a basis so that everyone can enjoy it. As such, non-sensitive areas should not have any access restrictions. The conservation of the Bay should also be left to the locals and not to outside organisations dictating from a distance. Community ownership is the key to common-sense conservation. I would also like to see greater education of boat users in the area to act sensitively around the dolphins and other wildlife."

Article written by Steve Hartley