Spotted last Saturday by the Oceanomare Delphis team during the winter campaign supported by the Marine Protected Area: the sperm whale had already been photographed in 2009 and 2019
The sperm whale named Salvatore likes the Marine Protected Area Regno di Nettuno. Re-sighted last Saturday between Ischia and Ventotene, in the underwater canyon of Punta Imperatore, the cetacean had already been photographed in May 2009 and “recaptured” ten years later, in July 2019.
Positive news for the biodiversity of the Campania sea and, in particular, for the pelagic area of MPA, the crossroads of seven distinct species of cetaceans.
The encounter has been recorded by the researchers of Oceanomare Delphis within the cetacean winter monitoring campaign supported by the MPA.
“The sighting, on the bathymetric of 1000 meters south-west of the island – explains the cetologist Barbara Mussi, president of Oceanomare Delphis – represents the first encounter with this animal in the winter months and confirms its fidelity to the waters of Ischia”. The champion of site-fidelity remains the sperm whale Brunone, with 16 years of encounters in the waters of Ischia.
We are proud to protect and report a similar heritage. – explains the director of the MPA Regno di Nettuno, Antonino Miccio – Starting from Ischia, you can witness extraordinary spectacles of nature, which we must protect with competence and passion, and that can help us to promote increasingly sustainable tourism”.
The monitoring trips will continue until April aboard Jean Gab, the historical cutter of the association dedicated to cetacean research. The research vessel is equipped with acoustic instrumentation built in CIBRA (Interdisciplinary Center of Bioacoustics and Environmental Research of the University of Pavia) labs. The CIBRA hydrophones can detect sperm whales at a distance of 15 kilometers.
In the first seven winter surveys, 21 acoustic detections have been recorded, 5 of sperm whales and 16 of dolphins, with 12 sightings, 8 of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), 2 of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), and 2 of turtles (Caretta caretta).