World Dolphin Day, more and more cetaceans beached on our coasts

The balance continues to be worrying:157 specimens found along the Italian coasts in 2023 and 37 in the first three months of 2024

ROME – Every April 14 is celebrated World Dolphin Day established by the UN to raise awareness among the population about the conservation status of this species. There are 194 cetaceans stranded on the Italian coasts in the last 15 months, in the majority of cases they are dolphins.The balance continues to be worrying:157 specimens were found along the Italian coasts in 2023 - mostly dolphins (73 bottlenose dolphins and 51 dolphins) - 37 in the first three months of 2024.This was reported - on the occasion of tomorrow's World Dolphin Day - by the LIFE DELFI European project, which cites the data collected by the "Spiaggiamenti Data Bank", managed by the CIBRA of the University of Pavia and the Natural History Museum of Milan.

Numbers which, together with the fishing-dolphin interactions monitored during the project, demonstrate the seriousness of the phenomenon.Among the most loved animals which, due to their opportunistic behavior, follow fishing boats to catch the catch from the nets.This type of interaction often results in the dramatic injury of dolphins with serious economic damage also for fishermen.

“Thanks to the project and the collaboration with the CNR-IRBIM we are developing a technology completely innovative in the European panorama, which will allow us to obtain new interactive acoustic deterrents based on the recognition of dolphins through artificial intelligence”, explains David Scaradozzi, UNIVPM researcher.The involvement of fishermen it does not stop at the diffusion of deterrents but also at training courses for dolphin watching, proposed as an alternative economic activity, and through the opening of Info-Desks to support requests for funds and resources.

LIFE DELFI involves tourists, swimmers, divers and all those who love the sea:to support scientific research and start citizen science activities you can download the Marine Ranger App.“A series of actions aimed at contributing to the Biodiversity Strategy, the horizon is to seek the path to a possible coexistence between dolphins and fishermen.We have ensured that the protection of marine biodiversity and the phenomenon of interactions is known to multiple stakeholders, from the little ones with educational courses in schools to sea operators, making them aware of the good practices to adopt in the event of sightings of dolphins and other mammals marine.We appeal to institutions and administrations to implement the management and conservation measures outlined by the Life Delfi project", states Federica Barbera of the Biodiversity Office of Legambiente.