Angola is located on the west coast of Africa in the south-east Atlantic Ocean (latitude 5–17ºS), and has a coastline exceeding 1650 km length.  The area has a combination of temperate waters in the south and tropical waters in the north, and provides a variety of habitat types for marine fauna.

Little is known about the marine mammal species inhabiting Angolan waters, and until recently most information was based on historical catches of large whales.  Heavy exploitation of whales on the west coast of Africa commenced towards the end of the 18th century, with whalers arriving at Angola before 1770.  Between 1909 and 1916 modern shore-based and floating whaling stations were established at Lobito, Baia dos Elefantes, Mossamedes, Porto Alexandre and Baia dos Tigres.  Reviews of whaling records by Townsend (1935) and Best (1994) indicate that humpback and sperm whales were the most frequently captured species off Angola, with significant catches also of blue, fin, sei and Bryde’s whales.  The occurrence of smaller whales and dolphins off Angola is almost completely unknown.

Angola has received increasing focus from the oil and gas industry, and since 2003 some companies have implemented Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) during geophysical seismic surveys off Angola.  While the MMOs are primarily onboard to mitigate against the potentially adverse effects of seismic airgun sound upon marine fauna, the use of experienced biologists also provides an invaluable opportunity to collect data on marine mammals and turtles in this poorly studied region.

Ketos Ecology has been at the forefront of cetacean research in Angola, and Caroline Weir has carried out cetacean and turtle surveys from seismic survey vessels off the coasts of Angola, Congo and Gabon since March 2004.  This data is currently being used as part of a PhD study into the ecology and habitat preferences of cetaceans and turtles off Angola, and several scientific papers have been published to date.  During 2008 Ketos Ecology also carried out dedicated research on Atlantic humpback dolphins (Sousa teuszii) in southern Angola.  Information on this project is available at the Sousa dolphin website.

Please click on the links below for more information on the occurrence of cetaceans and turtles in Angolan waters, field work diary extracts and downloads: