• Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
Tethys Research Institute
  • Home
  • Activities
    • Research
      • Monitoring Mediterranean marine vertebrates
      • Fin whales
      • Sperm whales
      • Common bottlenose dolphins
      • Striped dolphins
      • Risso’s dolphins
      • Short-beaked common dolphins
      • Cuvier’s beaked whale
      • Long-finned pilot whales
      • Non-Mediterranean cetaceans
      • Giant Devil Rays
    • Conservation
      • Pelagos Sanctuary
      • Participation in international fora
      • Mediterranean monk seal conservation
      • Ship strike mitigation
      • Place-based protection
      • Monitoring of fisheries and dolphin-fisheries interaction
    • Projects
      • Life-SeaDetect
      • Eye in the Sky
      • Bluescape
    • Long Term Projects
      • Ionian Dolphin Project
      • Cetacean Sanctuary Research
    • Public Awareness
      • Conoscere il Santuario Pelagos e i cetacei che lo abitano
  • Scientific publications
  • About
    • Mission
    • The people
      • The Board
      • College of Arbiters
      • Honorary Presidents
      • Honorary members
      • Staff
      • Historical Officers
    • Documents of Reference
      • Statute
      • Public funding
      • Agreement on data use
      • Guidelines for internship
      • Internship declaration
  • Support
    • Donations
    • Donation campaigns
    • Join us as participants
    • 5 x 1000
    • Work with us
    • Sponsors
  • Contacts
  • Press
    • English
    • Italian
  • News
    • English
    • Italian
  • Whale watching
    • Join us at sea
    • Partecipa
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Activities2 / Research3 / Short-beaked common dolphins

Short-beaked common dolphins

Short-beaked common dolphins have become in recent decades the rarest and most endangered cetaceans in the Mediterranean. In what in retrospect looks like a mixture of luck (for the scientific opportunity) and  gloomy feelings (out of concern for the animals’ survival), Tethys started in 1991 a project called the Ionian Dolphin Project (IDP) in Western Greece, which initially focused in large part on the ecology and behaviour of short-beaked common dolphins (Piroddi et al. 2011, Bearzi et al. 2008, 2010) that were, at the time, quite abundant in the area. The IDP was conducted first from a research vessel (1991-1994), then based in Ithaca (1995) and in the island of  Kalamos (1996-2008) and finally in Vonitsa (2006 – present).

In subsequent years, the study became a documentation of the common dolphins’ dramatic decline, from approximately 150 to 15 animals between 1995 and 2014. Current research indicates that the animals are roaming across a much wider area, moving into their former “wonderland” only occasionally – and hence the drop in sighting rate. Decline of common dolphins in the study are was convincingly linked to the collapse of sardines, the dolphins’ main prey, due to overfishing.

Literature

Piroddi C., Bearzi G., Gonzalvo J., Christensen V. 2011. From common to rare: the case of the Mediterranean common dolphin. Biological Conservation doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.07.003

Bearzi G., Agazzi S., Gonzalvo J., Bonizzoni S., Costa M., Petroselli A. 2010. Biomass removal by dolphins and fisheries in a Mediterranean Sea coastal area: do dolphins have an ecological impact on fisheries? Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 11 p. DOI: 10.1002/aqc.1123

Bearzi G., Agazzi S., Gonzalvo J., Costa M., Bonizzoni S., Politi E., Piroddi C., Reeves R.R. 2008. Overfishing and the disappearance of short-beaked common dolphins from western Greece. Endangered Species Research 5:1-12. doi: 10.3354/esr00103

  • Research
    • Monitoring Mediterranean marine vertebrates
    • Fin whales
    • Sperm whales
    • Common bottlenose dolphins
    • Striped dolphins
    • Risso’s dolphins
    • Short-beaked common dolphins
    • Cuvier’s beaked whale
    • Long-finned pilot whales
    • Investigations on non-Mediterranean cetaceans
    • Giant Devil Rays
  • Conservation
    • Participation in international fora
    • Mediterranean monk seal conservation
    • Ship strike mitigation
    • Place-based protection
    • Monitoring of fisheries and dolphin-fisheries interaction
  • Projects
    • Life-SeaDetect
    • Eye in the Sky
  • Long Term Projects
    • Ionian Dolphin Project
    • Cetacean Sanctuary Research
  • Public Awareness
    • Conoscere il Santuario Pelagos e i cetacei che lo abitano

Tethys Research Institute

A non-profit organization for the study and conservation of the marine environment


Viale G.B. Gadio 2 - I-20121 Milano Italy

tethys@tethys.org

ph. +39 02 72 00 19 47

fax +39 02 39 29 05 25

skype: tethys_milano


Privacy Policy Cookie Policy
This website is hosted Green - checked by thegreenwebfoundation.org

Follow us!

Sponsors

Commercial partners

Tethys on Wikipedia

@copyright 2016-2020 - Tethys Research Institute - Web Design: Elena Politi - Graphic: Massimo Demma
Scroll to top