WWF PROJECT
TursioMed and InterMed
TursioMed and its follow-up project InterMed aimed to assess the conservation status of bottlenose dolphins and other Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Basin.
TursioMed Project
The TursioMed project, managed by the Acquario di Genova in collaboration with WWF Italian Switzerland, was developed in the three years between 2017 and 2019 with the aim of assessing the conservation status of bottlenose dolphins and other Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Basin. The information collected will be the basic tool to develop management and conservation plans for the common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin (another type of dolphin species) in the area analyzed within the subsequent InterMed project. To achieve this objective it was necessary to aggregate and analyse data produced by an international cetacean research network using a common platform. A total of 28 scientific partners from eight Mediterranean countries joined the project.
A specimen of Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) photographed off the coast of Genova (Italy) and clearly recognisable by its “marbled” colouring. Each sign is a memory of a «bite» received from a herd mate. The scratches heal quickly but lose the original grey pigmentation forever.
Copyright: F. Fossa – Acquario di Genova
A pair of adult bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) jump off the coast of Genova – Italy (Corso Italia in the background).
Copyright: M. Bellingeri – Acquario di Genova
Copyright: M. Bellingeri – Acquario di Genova
A striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) breaks the surface to breathe and take a look at the researchers. On the side you can clearly see the streaks that give the name to this dolphin species.
Copyright: L. Frigerio – Acquario di Genova
InterMed Project
The activities of the TursioMed project and the results obtained constitute a fundamental knowledge base to be able to develop, within the InterMed project, management and conservation plans for two dolphin species at Mediterranean Basin level. Moreover, a research campaign will be activated in the large Tunisian-Libyan platform, south of the Sicily channel, with the aim of deepening scientific knowledge in a strategic area of the basin and at the same time involving the southern Mediterranean countries more closely in the Cetacean management and conservation plans. Finally, data concerning three other Cetacean species will be shared, in order to acquire the necessary knowledge to activate future conservation plans on these marine mammals.
Carried out with
WWF Svizzera Italiana
PROJECT TIME
TursioMed 2017-2019
InterMed 2020-2022
Project Links
Address
Blue Planet - Virginia Böger Stiftung X.X.
Via Serafino Balestra 18
6900 Lugano
info@blueplanet-foundation.org