Intelsius Expands Commitment to ORCA Charity

Intelsius is a proud longstanding corporate partner of the ORCA charity, annually donating donating towards vital projects aimed at protecting and safeguarding whales and dolphins around the world. In 2024, we’re taking a partnership with ORCA to the next level by not only renewing our partnership, but with the introduction of Sea Safaris, which will see Intelsius staff venture out into the Bay of Biscay with ORCA to spot and track the cetacean wildlife that lives there, supporting their vital work.

From left: Alastair Harries, Intelsius Managing Director of Sample Transport Packaging and Steve Jones, Head of Partnerships at ORCA Charity

In this short article, we speak to Steve Jones, Head of Partnerships at ORCA, to ask him about the kind of work the charity does globally to safeguard and protect orca whales, dolphins and other cetaceans, their partnership with Intelsius, and his recent visit to Intelsius in York to launch Sea Safaris to UK staff.

Can you tell us a bit about who ORCA are, what they do, and where they work around the world?

ORCA are a whale and dolphin charity who work around the world identifying hotspots for marine mammals and helping to put in place protective measures to keep these amazing animals safe for future generations. We have an army of volunteer citizen scientists who conduct vital scientific research on all sorts of ships around the world, including ferries, cruise ships and freight vessels. This research helps to drive policy change to create protected areas for whales, dolphins and porpoises – collectively known as cetaceans.

ORCA are also working closely with the shipping industry to help them mitigate their impact on whales and dolphins globally. In particular, we focus on reducing the risk of ship strike, as for large whales this is one of the biggest threats facing these ocean giants in 2024. We help crews understanding what they can do to reduce the risk of a collision with cetaceans, as well as running cutting edge research projects to  better understand how whales respond to large ships.

What are the most pressing issues facing ocean conservationists, and ORCA in particular at the moment?

For over a century, mankind slaughtered hundreds of thousands of whales. While this widescale commercial exploitation of large whales is now a thing of the past, the threat has been replaced with an array of other issues that cetaceans have to navigate daily, which is affecting their ability to recover their populations.

Ship strike of large whales, entanglement of cetaceans in fishing gear, chemical and plastic pollution, noise and climate change are just some of the impacts we are seeing affect whale and dolphin populations, and some species are on the brink of extinction because of the pressure they are under. That makes ORCA’s work monitoring these animals more important than ever to make sure we can understand the impact these threats are having and hopefully help to prevent them.

How long have Intelsius been supporting ORCA, and what impact has this had on your work?

Intelsius first started supporting ORCA in 2011 and since then have been one of our most loyal and committed corporate members. As well as making donations that play a crucial role in supporting our conservation work, the entire Intelsius team have been engaged since day one, and whether it’s taking part in the Camino Trail or joining our talks, having such a close relationship with the team on the ground has made this an incredibly rewarding partnership.

We’ve just announced that Intelsius staff will be attending two Sea Safaris in 2024, can you tell us a bit about Sea Safaris and what staff should look forward to?

Sea Safaris are one of the events that ORCA is best known for. It will be great to have some lucky members of the team join us! These whale watching trips involve heading across the Bay of Biscay from either Plymouth in the UK or Rosslare in Ireland. Guests board a cruise ferry and head south towards northern Spain, crossing one of the top five places in the world for whales and dolphins with almost twenty different species potentially on show. The trips are great fun – three or four days of whale watching on a wonderful cruise ferry accompanied by a group of dedicated ORCA volunteers – and they are the perfect example of how amazing the wildlife is right on our doorstep!

We run the trips throughout the summer, with a record nine dates in 2024, and they are always very popular as a wonderful mini cruise experience enjoying the incredible marine wildlife seen in this absolutely stunning habitat. We have more information on our website at www.orca.org.uk/watch for those who want to find out more.

 Get in Touch

Intelsius is proud to be a corporate member of ORCA and we are committed to continuing our support of this fine charity to protect and conserve the habitats and livelihoods of marine animals. To find out more about our partnership with ORCA, reach our to our team at cs@intelsius.com or click here to visit the ORCA website.

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