Progress report for
Goal 14 implementation for the protection of Mediterranean sea's whales and dolphins
Achievement at a glance
2019 Delphis Operation was the 23rd edition of the traditional citizen science event for all sailors and yachtsmen in the Mediterranean Sea. The manifestations objectives, as every year, were: to survey the presence of marine mammals, thanks to the simultaneous monitoring carried out by the boaters, which allows to obtain an objective assessment of the minimum number of animals present, to raise awareness among sea users, citizens and institutions on the importance and fragility of the marine environment and on the need to protect the cetaceans that live in the Pelagos Sanctuary and throughout the Mediterranean.<br>
<br>The event started from the port of Imperia Porto Maurizio and involved all the Italian coastal regions and the coasts of other Mediterranean countries (Spain, France, Principality of Monaco, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Tunisia and Malta). 2019 Delphis Operation managed to involve members of the Italian Naval League, of Assonautica Italiana and numerous other bodies and associations .
<br>The mobilization of boaters has been enriched this year with the new Remove Plastic goal: freeing the sea from plastic starting to make small but significant gestures such as reporting and collecting marine litter on sea surface.
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<br>Thanks to the 2019 Delphis Operation participants (321 boats registered) a new instant panoramic photo of the sea surface was taken, reporting 62 sightings of cetaceans, for a total of 332 individuals observed. In addition to these animals, 7 Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), 8 Ocean sunfishes (Mola mola), 5 Devil fishes (Mobula mobular) and, among the birds, numerous Mediterranean shearwaters have been observed. 123 is the number of marine litter removed.
<br>The complete results: http://www.battibaleno.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Delphis-Operation-Report.pdf
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Challenges faced in implementation
Actively concern and connect the scientific community in the citizen science event and involving a large number of participants in all the Italian coasts and in other Mediterranean countries. Promoting the collaboration between these two actors.Next Steps
Spread among sailors and yachtsmen the 10 golden rules of the naturalist boater, a handbook of ecological and responsible behaviors to give sea users the tools to have less impact on the marine environment and, given the great organizational effort, to start preparing the 2020 edition of Operation Delphis, to actively involve an even higher number of participants in ecological action.Beneficiaries
The scientific community, which does not have sufficient nautical means to carry out simultaneous monitoring of the sea surface.
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<br>Boaters, sailors and yachtsmen, who receive the Delphis Training, thus acquiring new knowledge about the sea in which they sail, its inhabitants, in
<br>particular about the cetaceans species that live in the Mediterranean Sea and the rules of good conduct to adopt when they are sighted.
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<br>The media, the general public and institutions have been the target of our awareness campaign, to spread a greater sense of responsibility for the protection of the marine environment, starting from daily actions.
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Actions
To develop a greater sense of responsibility in the yachtsmen towards the sea in which they sail, we have prepared the "10 golden rules of the naturalist boater", a handbook of ecological and responsible behaviors to have a lesser impact on the marine environment. These rules have been widely disseminated through our communication channels, presented at the Venice Boat Show and in every meeting held in the yachtsmen's venues to carry out the Delphis Training. We have held some meetings to prepare boaters participating in Delphis Operation' mission at sea, teaching them to identify and recognize the species of cetaceans present and how to behave in their presence. These meetings were also an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences on the protection of the sea.<br>
<br>We held informal meetings with the general public, in order to raise awareness on the problem of marine litter and on possible measures to be taken to reduce our impact.
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<br>We presented the 2019 Delphis Operations report at the Genoa Boat Show, to show the yachtsmen effort, the data collected and to spread knowledge on the marine litter issue.
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<br>In a spirit of cooperation, we have provided the 2019 Delphis Operations collected data to the Tethys Research Institutes project Cetacei, FAI attenzione.
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