Researchers from Oceanomare Delphis, experts in monitoring and conservation of Mediterranean cetaceans, collaborate on Greenpeace Italy's "C'è di Mezzo il Mare" expedition.
Our researcher Alessandra Staffelli boarded the Greenpeace catamaran to document the presence of cetaceans and other pelagic fauna during the leg between the Pontine and Campanian islands.
We decided to focus the monitoring effort around the island of Ponza because it is the farthest island from Ischia (the base of Oceanomare Delphis), hard to reach and offers no safe harbor. This island, consequently, is the least monitored part of the study area.
The research transects off Ponza were designed to monitor different habitats: the continental slope, submarine canyons, banks, seamounts, and shallow waters of the continental shelf.
The waters of Ponza are included in the Important Marine Mammal Area "Campanian and Pontino Archipelagos".
Alessandra and the Greenpeace team spotted bottlenose dolphins, turtles, and striped dolphins!
The "C'è di Mezzo il Mare" expedition involves more than a month of activities in the waters of Tuscany, Campania, Lazio, Sicily, and Corsica to monitor areas of high biological and ecological value in the Tyrrhenian Sea.