GOODWICK'S Sea Trust conservation charity has presented revolutionary research to the world at the World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

The conference hosted over 2,500 marine mammal scientists from around the globe.

Among them was Sea Trust project officer Holly Dunn who presented Sea Trust's pioneering Porpoise Photo-ID Project; one of only four worldwide and the only one in the UK.

The conference was a spectacular opportunity for Sea Trust to show the world the photo-ID project, to meet and get advice from other researchers in the field, to make connections and to put Pembrokeshire's porpoises on the map.

The project, which is currently funded by Enhancing Pembrokeshire, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Biodiversity Solutions, has been running since April 2017,

It started as a pilot project using local volunteers to gather data on individual porpoises at Strumble Head and since then has grown into a ground-breaking research project.

Sea Trust now has the world's largest harbour porpoise catalogue in the world, surveys four different sites and is achieving results which were previously unheard of.

"We are learning things about porpoises that have never been discovered before, such as residency patterns and family structure," said Holly. "All because we have decided to study individual porpoises rather than the population as a whole."

Holly received lots of positive feedback and praise for how well Sea Trust is doing, considering porpoises are one of the hardest marine mammal species to photograph and identify.

"I have learnt so much and been so inspired by all the amazing research on display, all with the aims of enhancing our knowledge and understanding of these magnificent animals and ultimately conserving them and their surrounding environments," she said.

"I leave Barcelona with my head held high, so proud of the Porpoise Photo-ID Project and Sea Trust and inspired and determined to achieve more great results in the foreseeable future."