Goal 14 implementation for the protection of Mediterranean sea's whales and dolphins

Through its activities, Battibaleno association promotes the knowledge of marine mammals to encourage their protection and contributes to the effective creation of protected areas in the Mediterranean sea, as well as providing the scientific community with research data.

MONITORING AND CETACEANS' RESEARCH'S SEA EXPEDITIONS: Battibaleno conducts monitoring campaigns of the Western Mediterranean, according to the "linear transect" and "photo-identification" method. The sightings made during our expeditions are transmitted to ISPRA (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), IWC (International Whaling Commission) and Tethys Research Institute, for the citizen science project "Cetacei FAI attenzione", organized with the fund FAI for the Environment.

DELPHIS TRAINING (WORKSHOP FOR OBSERVERS OF CETACEANS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA): ​​it's an interactive environmental education "format" aimed at schools, sailors and yachtsmen, institutions and all sea lovers. Delphis Training promotes the environmental value of the "Marine Mammal Sanctuary" in an original and entertaining way and spreads the bases for a conscious behavior compatible with the ecosystem.

DELPHIS OPERATION: Battibaleno organises Delphis Operation, the traditional citizen science event, that since 1996, mobilizes sailors and yachtsmen from all over the Mediterranean. Delphis Operations is a campaign to raise awareness, to inspire more and more yachtsmen to become naturalist navigators and to create every year a new "instant-panoramic-picture" of the surface of the sea, starting from a large number of simultaneous observation points, distributed along the Italian coasts and other Mediterranean countries.

How it works: each crew is assigned the mission to monitor, from 12:00 to 13:00, a zone of sea chosen by the Commander of the ship or boat. During this time the crews will have to observe, identify and count cetaceans, sea turtles, jellyfish and visible pollution, plastics and hydrocarbons.
This method of data collection carried out simultaneously by all the boats positioned on different ship points, rightly distributed, allows to obtain an instant panoramic picture of the state of the sea. This image will provide an objective assessment of the minimum number of cetaceans present in the
Mediterranean, useful for the scientific community, which could never cover the same surface with research boats.
Since 2019 Delphis Operation, participating crews enrich their effort by removing plastic from the sea surface, taking part in the Remove Plastic Challenge, fully integrated in Delphis Operation's mission and goals.

SEA CLEANING AND MARINE FAUNA'S DAMAGE PREVENTION: Battibaleno actively collaborates in the removal of plastics and other floating waste, joining beaches and sea cleaning projects. Also crews participating in DELPHIS Operation engage in plastic removal and pollution sightings' reporting.