An Alliance for Mediterranean whales and dolphins

Cetacean Alliance is a newly-born not-for-profit network of non-governmental organizations committed to preserving marine biodiversity and reducing human impact on cetacean populations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Its aim is to develop synergies and create opportunities for collaboration among individuals and organizations sharing a determination to protect these magnificent and vulnerable animals.

The network includes NGOs with bases in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, the UK and the US.

Visit the Cetacean Alliance web site

How sharks find their next meal

Ever wondered how marine animals find their next meal?

Apparently, the same way we do our shopping: we don't wander aimlessly but go down the road and, if we don't find what we want, make a couple of longer trips downtown. This special type of random motion is known as a Levy walk.

Ecologist David Sims of the Marine Biological Association laboratory in Plymouth, U.K., and collegues have found evidence of Levy walks analyzing more than a million dives of 31 large marine predators - including sharks, fish, sea turtles and penguins - as they apparently hunted for food.

The team also conducted computer simulations showing that if prey is scattered in the ocean, but concentrated in clumps, repeated short dives with an occasional much longer plunge would be the best strategy to find it.

This research was published today on Nature.
Sims D.W. et al. 2008. Scaling laws of marine predator search behaviour. Nature 451:1098-1103. doi:10.1038/nature06518

Eleonora de Sabata

Save the Mediterranean tuna

Tuna are vanishing, worldwide, due to unsustainable fishing pressure and short-sighted environmental management.

That tuna are collapsing is now perfectly clear. It has been repeated by a number of scientists and experts, and even by fishermen. So, it’s time for us to act. If you want to change the situation, there is something you can do.

If you don’t buy tuna, you give to this amazing species a chance of survival. Take action now: stop consuming tuna, and recommend to your friends to do the same.

Silvia Bonizzoni / Tethys Research Institute
(Drawing by Massimo Demma)

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For more information:
www.wildlifeextra.com
www.panda.org
environment.newscientist.com

All About Dolphins

A booklet providing information about dolphins, their daily lives and the threats they face. For school children, teachers and parents.

Information is delivered through interactive exercises and games, making the manual suitable for use in the classroom and during leisure time.

Produced in eight languages (Arabic / English / Italian / French / German / Greek / Spanish / Turkish) and available for free download.

Go to the booklet's web page

Our Friends the Dolphins

An educational colouring book for children featuring dolphins, the threats affecting them, and ways to protect them.

The booklet can be viewed online at different sizes and can be freely downloaded.

Available in five languages (English / Italian / French / German / Greek).

Go to the booklet's web site

Sanctuaries of the Sea

Sanctuaries of the Sea - Are Marine Protected Areas for Cetaceans a Solution? explores whether whales, dolphins and porpoises can be the catalyst in protecting marine biodiversity in this ancient sea.

earthOCEAN interviews Erich Hoyt of WDCS, and Ana Canadas and Ric Sagarminaga of Alnitak.

Disappearing Dolphins

Disappearing Dolphins features the efforts of Tethys researchers to study and protect dolphins in western Greece. Common dolphins were once abundant throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

Today they are declining rapidly, surviving only in portions of their former range. In western Greece, the sea around the island of Kalamos is their last stronghold, or at least it used to be...

Fishy Business

Fishy Business documents the illegal driftnet fishery. Despite a world-wide ban by the United Nations in 1992 and by the European Union in 2002, the driftnet fishery continues illegally throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

Driftnets are banned because they take large quantities of unwanted catch, called bycatch, putting populations of migratory fish, sea turtles and cetaceans at risk.

The Sperm Whales of Greece

The Sperm Whales of Greece - Life in the Trenches documents a scientific expedition through Greece in search of the elusive and endangered Mediterranean sperm whale.

earthOCEAN joins Alexandros Frantzis of Pelagos on a journey into the deepest trenches of the Mediterranean.

Victoria, a rehabilitated monk seal pup, released back into the Aegean Sea

MOm, the Hellenic Society for the Study and the Protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, is celebrating its 20th year of activities with the release today of Victoria, the 16th seal pup the organisation has rehabilitated since it began operating. With only 300-400 monk seals still existing in the Mediterranean, most of which in Greek waters, the survival of each individual is of greatest conservation importance.

Victoria was named after a lady who in October 2007 braved the rough seas near the Greek island of Tinos to rescue the seal pup, hours after she was born. When found, Victoria weighed just 15 kg, was malnourished and suffered from serious injuries. Having been treated for four months at MOm’s monk seal hospital, located on the island of Alonissos, she fully recovered and was taught the skills needed to survive on her own in the open sea.

At the time of her release in the waters of the National Marine Park of Alonissos - the world’s largest and most important Mediterranean monk seal sanctuary - Victoria now weighs more than 50 kg and is quite capable to hunt for her prey. To keep track of her movements and conditions, Victoria carries with her a special transmitter developed in cooperation with scientists from the Sea Mammal Research Unit in Scotland. This will transmit to MOm via SMS constant information on the seal’s whereabouts, depth of dives, time spent in and out of the water and swimming speed.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

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Photograph by Vangelis Paravas, MOm

For more information
MOm, the Hellenic Society for the Study and the Protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal

Cetacean Investigation

Cetacean Investigation is a series of documentary programmes produced by earthOCEAN combining the collective wisdom of scientists and conservationists with a remarkable range of expertise and perspectives.

Cetacean Investigation includes the series Whales of the Mediterranean Sea - five documentaries that examine the ecology of cetaceans in the region, while exploring the causes of increasing pressures on their populations and habitats.