Environmental Research and Conservation
MareTerra Onlus won the Award “Scienza che Passione” at the SCIENCE 2DAY Event, an initiative promoted by Sardegna Ricerche and financed by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, which involved more than 700 people at the Technology Park of Pula (Cagliari, Italy). Among the 30 projects submitted, coming from different Sardinian non-profit organizations engaged in the field of scientific dissemination, our association won the first prize in the category "General Public" with the project “Scale Factors”.
In the last 30 years a large number of scientific studies have provided evidences that underwater noise is detrimental to marine wildlife and the ecosystem. Following these findings, the Marine Strategies of the European Commission introduced noise as one of the forms of energy which have to be maintained at level that is not dangerous for wildlife.
Whale watching is an international industry worth more than 2 billion US$ globally and it is currently the greatest economic activity reliant upon cetaceans. However, there is concern that whale watching is detrimental to the target species. Numerous studies have shown that cetaceans exhibit behavioral changes in response to whale-watching boat traffic. Some of these behavioral changes involve inhibiting biologically important behaviors such as feeding and resting. There is convincing evidence for some species that these can translate into population-level effects such as reduced reproductive rates (Parsons et al., 2012). We work in close cooperation with the dolphin watching company Progetto Natura. Is this a mistake? I summarize below all the reasons why Progetto Natura dolphin watching tours can be considered absolutely sustainable and not detrimental to the dolphins' welfare.