SForty years have passed, but the passion that drives his team is still the same: a boundless love for the sea and its mammalian inhabitants like us, that is, those who do not breathe in water like fish. The Tethys Ets Institutebased at the Civic Aquarium of Milan but with important operational bases in Portosole Sanremo and Greece, is a true Italian excellence. An institution that was pioneer in the research and monitoring of Mediterranean cetaceans. Before then, we limited ourselves to studying a few specimens of beached, i.e. dead, animals. Tethys was then among the first to introduce the citizen science (active involvement of citizens in the collection and analysis of scientific data, ed.) in Italy: in four decades, over 7,000 people not familiar with whales and dolphins boarded the boats of the Tethys Institute and collaborated with marine biologists.
Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that the founder, the scientist and biologist Giuseppe Nortarbartolo from Sciara, was the promoter of the first transnational marine protected area, the Pelagos Sanctuarywhich includes Italian, French and Monaco waters, created in November 1999 and which today is a point of reference for the protection of marine mammals.
On the trail of cetaceans for 40 years: the mission of the Tethys Institute
Tethys’ goals?
«Study, conservation, dissemination of knowledge on cetaceans. Notarbartolo di Sciara, today one of the most important cetologists in the world, conducted research for 10 years in the United States” explains Sabina Airoldi, project director of the Tethys Institute. «Upon his return to Italy, in 1986, he founded the institute with Egidio Gavazzi. Within a year, it focused on scientific research at sea.” Sabina was a recent graduate in Natural Sciences with a thesis on spiders. She had never seen a cetacean at sea in her life, but after joining Tethys she embarked in Chioggia for her first research cruise. This was the beginning of a long relationship with the sea and marine mammals that has lasted 39 years.
A male sperm whale dives (photo L. Gordigiani – M. Gabualdi – N. Pierantonio – P. Roessler – T. Richwien, Courtesy Istituto Tethys).
Sabina Airoldi’s first time in front of a whale
His first sighting?
«A group of bottlenose dolphins, seen from afar. The most exciting moment, however, was yet to come. It happened one day in 1988, early in the morning. We had sailed around the Adriatic, sailed up the Tyrrhenian Sea and found ourselves off the coast of Sanremo. A fin whale suddenly appeared, I felt its presence thanks to the powerful breath it emits. I was in the presence of the second largest animal in the world after the blue whale, a giant 20 meters long that can weigh 50 tons. And it wasn’t alone: there were 10 other specimens in the area.”
The project director Sabina Airoldi listens to the “voices” of the cetaceans ((photo L. Gordigiani – M. Gabualdi – N. Pierantonio – P. Roessler – T. Richwien, Courtesy Istituto Tethys).
Cetaceans in the Mediterranean
Which cetaceans live in the Mediterranean?
«Eight species are regularly present. In addition to the fin whale, there are the sperm whale and the beaked whale. And then the pilot whale, the Risso’s dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, the striped dolphin and the common dolphin. In addition to cetaceans, the Tethys Institute also deals with the monk seal – present in Greece and recently also found in the Pelagos Sanctuary – and the mobula, the Mediterranean manta ray, which can have a wingspan of more than four metres”.
Do citizen science in Liguria
How did the idea of involving ordinary people in research come about?
«Giuseppe Notarbartolo from Sciara brought the model to Italy citizen science that he had met in the United States. These are enthusiasts who want to help marine biologists collect scientific data. In Liguria, we host up to 11 people on the boat for a week. The first two days are dedicated to training, then, depending on individual predisposition, each person is assigned a specific task.”
Is it true that there is a strong female presence?
«More than 80 percent of the participants are made up of women of all ages, from 18 to 80, with a prevalence between 25 and 35. They are determined, many leave their husbands and children at home for a week, willing to live an experience in an unfamiliar context. On the other hand, our research team has also been predominantly female from the beginning. Even today there are more female researchers.”
A pilot whale, also called pilot whale (photo L. Gordigiani – M. Gabualdi – N. Pierantonio – P. Roessler – T. Richwien, Courtesy Istituto Tethys)
How to participate in research camps in Italy and Greece
Are participation fees an important source of financing?
«At the beginning they were fundamental to grow, allowing us to collect data, publish articles in international scientific journals and obtain the credibility we needed to start collaborations with universities and other research bodies. We then became a point of reference in the scientific community: our collection of data on Mediterranean cetaceans is among the largest and boasts the longest historical series, with continuity that reaches up to today. As for funding for research, it comes mainly thanks to national, European and international tenders and contributions from foundations. However, simple enthusiasts continue to participate in our research fields in Italy and Greece (on the Tethys website all the information to get on board, ed)”.
During the study trip, can participants swim with cetaceans?
«We don’t dive with the animals to avoid disturbing them. The Accobams agreement for the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and adjacent Atlantic areas prohibits this. It may happen on rare occasions that we dive to make videos, or to free an animal tangled in a fishing line.”
Why protecting cetaceans is so important
Is fishing a risk for cetaceans?
«Spadare, pelagic drift nets now banned by the European Union, killed many cetaceans in the 1980s and 1990s. They are nets up to 20 km long, left to drift beneath the sea surface. However, they did not only catch swordfish, but also cetaceans, mobulas, turtles and birds. I happened to see dolphin carcasses on the surface that had become entangled in these deadly nets, drowned after continuous efforts to come up and breathe, until they succumbed to exhaustion.”
Why are cetaceans important to us too?
«They are the engineers of the sea, fundamental for the balance of the marine system. Carbon dioxide, the number one cause of climate change, is absorbed mainly by seas and oceans thanks to phytoplankton, which lives near the surface. But the unicellular marine algae that compose it require mineral salts, which however are found on the seabed. Thanks to their continuous dives, cetaceans redistribute essential nutrients throughout the water column, stimulating the growth of phytoplankton. Furthermore, cetacean feces contain large amounts of nutrients. Therefore, by fertilizing the phytoplankton, they contribute to mitigating the greenhouse effect.”