Conservation of marine mammals in the Balearic Sea

The conservation of marine mammals in the Balearic Sea and the initiatives being carried out to better understand their population and identify the best protection measures necessary were the focus of the second day of the 2nd Conference on the Conservation of Marine Biodiversity in the Balearic Islands.  

Experts in marine biology, scientific institutions, and organisations gathered at the conference, which began with a welcome from the director of Marilles, Aniol Esteban, and the director of the Sa Nostra Foundation, Lucía Martín. Next, María Moreno, from the Directorate-General for Biodiversity of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, spoke about the Spanish government's lines of action in this regard. Afterwards, Carla Álvarez, from Submon, spoke about the study of cetaceans in the Catalan-Balearic Sea and shared experiences from Catalonia in this regard. 

Txema Brotons, from the Tursiops Association, explained the work that they have been doing for years to conserve sperm whale populations in the Balearic Sea. In fact, Tursiops has identified an important breeding area for this species in the north of Menorca. For his part, Carlos Bravo, from OceanCare, addressed the problem of boat collisions, which cause the death of many cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea. 

The conference continued with a talk by Marga Cerdà, from Tursiops, on the bottlenose dolphin population in the Balearic Islands, while Laura González García, from OKEANOS (UniversAzores), explained the experience of cetacean sightings and the challenges that this activity poses. Finally, Manuel Antonio Arbelo Hernández, from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, presented the work carried out by the Canary Islands stranding response network. The morning ended with a debate among the attendees. 

The conference continued in the afternoon with a closed-door meeting where the experts drafted a document noting the conclusions of the meeting and management proposals.