Oceanswell » Sri Lanka Marine Research & Education

Home 2

Home 4

Home 5

Support Oceanswell

Our oceans contain the greatest diversity of life on Earth. From the freezing polar regions to the warm waters of the tropics and deep sea hydrothermal vents to shallow seagrass beds, marine organisms abound. By donating to Oceanswell, you are helping us do what we do best – explore, discover, protect, educate and give the oceans a voice. No amount is too little and your support is greatly appreciated.

To find out how you can donate, please email us and our team will share the details with you.

Home 13

Home 14

Did you know?

Home 15

Home 16

Home 17

Home 18

Connect with us

Find out what drives fishers to partake in illegal shark fisheries in the BIOT by swiping today’s advent calendar! Full paper at: https://bit.ly/3hmHPny

Illustrations by @naduni_m

@ashadevos @clairejscollins @exetermarine @officalzsl @bertarellifoundation @Ana__Nuno

How did our research assistant Chiran study fish from his bedroom? Find out in today's advent calendar! Full article: https://www.oceanswell.org/ocean-chronicles

Illustrations by @naduni_m

#oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #oceanchronicles #bruvs

How did our research assistant Chiran study fish from his bedroom? Find out in today's advent calendar! Full article: https://www.oceanswell.org/ocean-chronicles

Illustrations by @naduni_m

#oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #oceanchronicles #bruvs

At our 29th Marine Conservation Conversation, we learned about a substance called guano. But what is it? Swipe our advent calendar to find out what ‘guano birds’ are!

Illustrations by @naduni_m

@ashadevos

#oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #marineconservationconversation #guano

The last step in our photo identification process is identifying distinct features on a whale’s body. We try to find 3 prominent markings so that it’s easier to identify them later! Swipe through these slides to see some of the features we look out for! #photoidentification

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is a no-

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is a no-take large scale marine protected area that is targeted for illegal shark fisheries. As part of our research, we looked at the factors that drive Sri Lankan fishers to venture over the watery borders to engage in these fisheries. Learn about our findings by swiping today’s advent calendar! This study was a collaboration between Oceanswell, the University of Exeter and the Zoological Society of London and was funded by the Bertarelli Foundation. Head to www.oceanswell.org/publications or click on the link in our bio titled ‘Publications’ to read this paper and others that were published as part of this project! We are also currently advertising for a fully-funded MPhil project for a Sri Lankan student based out of Ocean University Sri Lanka that is an extension of this work. Deadline to apply: 12 December 2021. To know more head to www.oceanswell.org/job-opportunities or click on the link in our bio titled ‘Opportunities’. Illustrations by Naduni Mallika Arachchi @ashadevos @clariscollins @exetermarine @uniofexeter @officialzsl @bertarellifoundation @nadunimallikarachchi #oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #thanks2021 #sharkfisheries #publications

Hafsa and Chiran presented their research at the 3

Hafsa and Chiran presented their research at the 3rd Ocean University Research Symposium! Chiran presented his Master’s research conducted while at the University of Tasmania titled, “Sample-size requirements for evaluating length-frequency distributions of reef fishes from stereo-BRUVs” (What’s a BRUV? Head to our website and check out the Ocean Chronicle about BRUVs by Chiran to find out!) Hafsa presented the findings of our ongoing research “Understanding the natural variability of the beach from Mount Lavinia to Wellawatte for long term management of local coastlines.” Science communication is so important to us, and making sure that everyone can share in the wonderful work that we churn out is always a top priority. Conferences are a great way to meet like-minded individuals and learn about the great work happening around the island. The process of creating presentations is also an ongoing learning experience - with the whole team coming together to ensure a perfect output! @hafsajamel @kavindu_chiran

Chiran, our research assistant, wrote a blog about

Chiran, our research assistant, wrote a blog about how he studied fish from his bedroom. How did he do it? Find out in today's advent calendar! To read the full article and more cool blogs, head to www.oceanswell.org/ocean-chronicles or click on the link in our bio titled 'Ocean Chronicles'. Illustrations by Naduni Mallika Arachchi @kavindu_chiran @nadunimallikarachchi #oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #thanks2021 #oceanchronicles #bruvs

At our 29th Marine Conservation Conversation, we d

At our 29th Marine Conservation Conversation, we discussed a source of fertilizer that is both inexpensive and abundant in South America called ‘guano’. Swipe through today’s advent calendar to find out what guano is and what ‘guano birds’ are! Head to our stories for the full recap of this MCC and learn more! Illustrations by Naduni Mallika Arachchi @nadunimallikarachchi ##oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #thanks2021 #marineconservationconversation #guano #guanobirds

The last step in our photo identification process

The last step in our photo identification process is identifying distinct features on an individual’s body that help distinguish one blue whale from the other! We make use of their unique characteristics like scars, wounds or distinct mottling patterns and find the 3 most prominent markings to ensure we can unfailingly recognise them every time they come by! Swipe through these slides to see some of the characteristics we look out for! #photoidentification

While on our beach variability surveys, we often c

While on our beach variability surveys, we often come across a range of marine animals that have been discarded as bycatch. To find out what bycatch is and what species we have documented through this project, check out day 5 of our advent calendar and then head to our stories for more! Illustrations by Naduni Mallika Arachchi @nadunimallikarachchi #oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #thanks2021#bycatch #rays

Two years ago, we had an unusual visitor on the sh

Two years ago, we had an unusual visitor on the shores of our tropical island - a southern elephant seal. This year, we published a paper on this unusual sighting and in it we identified that the seal was a male. How did we guess that? Find out by swiping day 5 of our Advent Calendar! Head to www.oceanswell.org/publications or click on the link in our bio titled ‘Publications’ to read the full paper! Illustrations by Naduni Mallika Arachchi @ashadevos @nadunimallikarachchi #oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #thanks2021 #southernelephantseal

මෑතකදී මිරිස්ස අවට

මෑතකදී මිරිස්ස අවට මුහුදේ තල්මසුන් නොමැති බවට පැතිරෙන කතාබහ අපට කුතුහලයක් ඇති කරනු ලැබුවා. මේ නිසා දිගු කාලයක සිට එම ප්‍රදේශයේ තල්මසුන් නැරඹීමේ ව්‍යාපාරය සිදු කරගෙන යන ක්‍රියාකරුවන් කිහිපදෙක්නෙකුගෙන් මේ පිළිබඳව අප විමසා බැලුවා. තල්මසුන් එම ප්‍රදේශය සිටින බව තමයි අපට ලැබුණු සතුටුදායක පුවත. නිල් තල්මසෙකු (Blue whale) දෙසැම්බර් 1 වැනිදා දැක තිබෙන අතර පසුගිය මාසයේදීත් කිහිපවරක්ම නිල් තල්මසුන් දැකගැනීමට හැකිවී තිබෙනවා. ඊට අමතරව ෆෝල්ස් කිලර් කොමදුවන් (False killer whales), බ්‍රයිඩ්ගේ තල්මසුන් (Bryde’s whales) මව සමඟ පැටවා සිටින විටදී පවා දර්ශනය වී තිබෙන අතර, මුක්කරු කොමදුවා (Short-Finned pilot whales) (පුවත් විකාශනයේ පෙන්වන වීඩියෝ පටයේ දිස්වේ), බඹර මුල්ලන් (Spinner dolphins) සහ තවත් විශේෂ කිහිපයක්ම දැකගැනීමට හැකිවී තිබේ. සමහර අවස්ථාවන් වලදී මෙම ක්‍රියාකරුවන් වෙරළේ සිට වැඩි දුරක් ගමන් නොකරන අතර තල්මසුන්, විශේෂයෙන්ම නිල් තල්මසුන් ඔවුන්ගේ ආහාර සොයා ගමන් කරන අතර ඔවුන්ගේ ආහාර දියවැල් සමඟ ඈතට ගමන් කිරීම ඕනෑම වසරක සිදුවිය හැකි සාමාන්‍ය ක්‍රියාවකි. නමුත් නිල් තල්මසුන් අඩුවෙන් දිස්වූ විට තල්මසුන් නොමැති බව පැවසීම අපගේ මුහුදු කළාපයේ ඇති සුවිශේෂී වූ තල්මසුන් සහ මුල්ලන් (dolphin) විවිධත්වය නොසලකාහැරීමකි. තල්මසුන් හා මුල්ලන් වර්ග 28ක් වැනි විශාල ප්‍රමාණයකින් වරප්‍රසාද ලබා ඇති අපි ඕනෑම විශේෂයක් දිස්වීම සැමරිය යුත්තේ ස්වභාවධර්මය නිතර වෙනස්වන සුලු නිසායි. තල්මසුන් දර්ශනය වන විට තල්මසුන් නොමැති බව පැවසීම නැවත නැඟීසිටීමට උත්සාහ කරනා සංචාරක කර්මාන්තයට විශාල හානියක් සිදු කිරීමට පවා හැකියි. තවත් සඳහන් කිරීමට වැදගත් වන කරුණක් වන්නේ 2011 වසරේදී (M/V Xpress Pearl අනතුරට බොහෝ කාලයකට පෙර) නිල් තල්මසුන් දර්ශනය වීම 2009 වසර (‘සාමාන්‍ය’ වසරක් ලෙසින් සැලකේ) හා සාපේක්ෂව සැලකියයුතු ලෙසින් අඩු වීමයි. Ilangakoon (2012) ප්‍රකාශනයට අනුව තල්මසුන් නරඹන බෝට්ටු මඟින් තල්මසුන්ව වෙරළෙන් ඈතට එළවා ඇති බව පැවසූවත්, මෙම ප්‍රදේශයේ වසර කිහිපයකට අදාල (2009, 2011 සහ 2012) දිගු කාලීන පරිසර තත්වයන් අධ්‍යනයෙන් එළිදැක්වූ de Vos et al. (2014) පර්‍යේෂණයෙන් පෙන්වාදෙනු ලැබුවේ 2011 වසරේ ඇදහැලුණු අධික වර්ශාපතනය හා එමඟින් සාගරයට එක්වුණු ගංඟා ජලය මඟින් මුහුදේ ඇතිවූ බොරදිය තත්වය නිසා වෙරළාශ්‍රිත ජලයේ නිෂ්පාදකතාව පහත වැටීම නිසා ගොදුරු සහ නිල් තල්මසුන්ගේ ව්‍යාප්තිය වෙනස් වී ඇති බවයි. Continued in the comments... @ashadevos @kavindu_chiran

This year, we published our report on the impact o

This year, we published our report on the impact of the initial COVID-19 lockdowns on small scale fisheries in Sri Lanka. Through our study, we found out that the price of seafood was impacted by the lockdown restrictions in the country. To find out how it was affected, swipe day 3 of our Advent Calendar! To read our full report head to www.oceanswell.org/publications or click on the link in our bio titled ‘Publications’. Azmy, N., Giritharan, A., Jamel, H., Mangubhai, S., & de Vos, A. (2021). The impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on coastal fisheries in Sri Lanka. Oceanswell, Colombo. Illustrations by Naduni Mallika Arachchi @nadiya.azmy @ashadevos @arpanax @hafsajamel @sangeeta_mangubhai @andersoncabotcenter @newenglandaquarium @nadunimallikarachchi #oceanswelladventcalendar2021 #adventcalendar #covid19andfisheries #fisheries