GENERAL INFORMATION
Our Team
Research and other activities will be conducted by a qualified team, which has more than 10 years of experience in marine fauna research all around the world. Research coordinators will oversee fieldwork and general project coordination, while intern coordinators or research assistants will help in all aspects of the project and coordination of the activity, housekeeping and interns’ responsibilities.
RESEARCH PROJECT
Project Background
In the Ligurian Sea, bottlenose dolphin has been extensively studied only in the Eastern area, between Genoa and La Spezia, which represents, for a series of features of the seafloor, a perfect habitat for this species.
On the contrary, in the Western part, no research organization or scientific foundation has conducted studies focused only on bottlenose dolphins because, due to the morphology of the sea bottom, sightings have always been more sporadic than the opposite side. The continental shelf is very narrow and short and high depths (around 2000 m) are reached close to the coast. This makes the area suitable for other cetacean species but not ideal for bottlenose dolphins, which tend to remain in coastal waters.
Since April 2018, the beginning of our project, we have been demonstrating that this species is regularly present all year round also in this part of the basin with a high occurrence and great numbers. The project is structured on an annual basis, to obtain data not only on the distribution during the Summer but also changes during the different seasons. Data from this study are being used to create a baseline for a long-term project, monitoring bottlenose dolphins in this part of the Ligurian Sea, information needed to suggest and create conservation plans for their protection.
Marine Birds and Other Fauna Research Project
During our surveys, we collect data on the presence of other cetacean species and on several species of marine birds, fishes and sea turtles that can be sighted. Our database of marine fauna provides interesting information about the seasonal presence of Mediterranean shearwaters (Puffinus yelkouan), Scopoli’s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea), Northern gannets (Morus bassanus), Sandwich terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis), sunfish (Mola mola) among others.
Research Topics
- Groups and social structure analysis: to study the interactions and associations between individuals
- Abundance: estimation of the local population size
- Distribution, occurrence and movements to understand if the animals perform movements and migrations, even seasonal, towards the neighbouring areas.
- Identification of hot spots or areas with greater importance.
- Identification of the main threats which dolphins may incur and therefore the creation of management and conservation plans for their protection.
- Interaction with fisheries
- Habitat modelling
- Skin lesion
- Distribution and occurrence of seabirds, with a focus on seasonal variability.
- Sea turtle monitoring (Pilot project on nests)
Methods and data collection
The project is a long-term coastal project. Data are collected during dedicated boat-based surveys conducted from a 5.2 m zodiac equipped with a 40 hp outboard engine, based in the port of Imperia, with 4/5 crew members. Surveys are carried out in favourable weather-marine conditions (Beaufort ≤3) around 10 times a month. The main effort is focused on collecting images, which will be used to identify the sighted animals, through the technique of photo-identification. Environmental conditions, marine traffic, geographical locations and dolphins' behavioural data are among the data collected at sea.
The study area and the Pelagos Sanctuary
The study area, which extends from Capo Noli to the France border, from the coast to the bathymetric of 500m in depth is located in the Ligurian Sea, a basin that shows very particular features, especially in its Western part where it reaches remarkable depths very close to the shore.
In western Liguria, the continental shelf, which by definition extends from the shore to 200m deep, is little expanded and in a few nautical miles the bottom reaches more than 2500 meters in depth. The continental slope is crossed by many submarine canyons in the area. Other important oceanographic and climate parameters contribute to make this area unique for marine life.
Thanks to all these features the Ligurian basin is considered to have the highest presence of cetaceans in the whole Mediterranean Sea. For this reason, in 1999, the governments of Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco signed an agreement that sanctions the establishment of a marine protected area, called the International Pelagos Sanctuary.
The area, which extends for 96,000Km² houses regularly 8 cetacean species: fin whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, pilot whale, common dolphin, Risso’s dolphin and Cuvier’s beaked whale. Mobula rays, sea turtles and several marine bird species are regularly present too.
