To contribute to the progressive implementation of a development more respectful of the marine environment, CIRCE wishes publicise what is known about marine mammals and to highlight the dangers threatening the marine world. Therefore CIRCE intends to highlight:
- the beauty of marine world, especially whales and dolphins.
- the real conservation issues concerning marine ecosystems today (pollution, overexploitation of marine resources, maritime traffic). For example, you can find very concerning recent results about the killer whale population of the Crozet Archipelago here!
© photo Jean-Michel Bompar
To achieve these goals CIRCE implements several complementary actions:
- Environmental education on: "The cetaceans of the Strait of Gibraltar, methods of study and threats"
Since the beginning of February 2004, thanks to the "Delegación de Educación del Ayuntamiento de Algeciras" two biologists from CIRCE (Beatriz Ramos and Marta Garcia) are going from schools to schools (a total of 19) in Algeciras to present to the children the richness of the surrounding waters. Indeed, as most of them are aware of the presence of dolphins in the Bay of Algeciras, they generally don't know that there are 7 species of cetaceans in the Strait of Gibraltar: the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas), the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), the killer whale (Orcinus orca) and the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), which is the second biggest living animal on the planet right after the blue whale. They also learn a lot of things on the biology of cetaceans and the threats they encounter everyday in the sea. This project is also financed by the SEC (Sociedad Española de Cetaceos) and the UCA (Universidad de Cadiz) that are partners of the LIFE project "Conservation of turtles and cetaceans in Murcia and Andalusia" LIFE02NAT/E/8610 that will be in the beginning of May in the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa with its exhibition and old style sailing boats. At the end of the talk, the children are invited to paint a mural with what they saw and learned on cetaceans. These will be exposed and the most beautiful will allow the children to embark on the Toftevaag, an old style sailing boat.
NEW: Results of the painting contest in Algeciras.
The old style sailing boats of the LIFE project. From left to right: the Morena, the Else and the Toftevaag
- The development of ecotourism
with a scientific orientation.
3 to 4 people will be able to participate in scientific studies conducted on board our boat in the Strait of Gibraltar. These scientific cruises will have a one to several -week duration.
During the year 2002, CIRCE collaborated closely with Turmares S.L.. This whale watching company allowed one of CIRCE biologists to go onboard Turmares' boat during the whole summer. This biologist took data that will be used in different research project of CIRCE. He also did a few hundred talks to a total of 10 000 persons. Furthermore, 3 educational posters were placed in Turmares office in Tarifa. A photo exposition also took place in these offices for the whole year.
- A conference programme
intended for the general public.
This programme will be held all over France and will be animated by Anne Collet amongst others. It will be based on life experiences, photographs and videos showing the species studied, as well as the research studies conducted and the results obtained during the recent expeditions.
- A series of documentary
films on the ocean and marine species
are being produced as part of a special agreement with scientific marine documentary makers particularly with Frédéric Presles. Several documentary films on the Mediterranean Sea are already being filmed or are planned for years to come.
· Documentary films on Mediterranean marine mammals:
- Fin whale 52 min, being filmed France 3 (Filmed in summers 2000-2001)
© photo Jean-Michel Bompar- Sperm whale 26 min, planned for filming in June 2001 La cinquième
© photos Renaud de Stephanis and Anne Collet- Stenella and common dolphin 26 min., in pre-production, La Cinquième
© photos Anne Collet- Killer whale: 26 min., in pre-production, La Cinquième
© photo Christophe Guinet· Documentary films on other species of the Mediterranean Sea
- Mediterranean Large Sharks: 52 min., being filmed, France 3
- Red Tuna Fish: 52 min., in planning
- Publishing
- By sharing our experience with our communication partners, we will participate in the publishing of books, postcards or videos.
- We intend to publish regular information on conservation programmes and on the associations devoted to the protection of marine environment internet on our web site.
- We also intend to provide information to students in: school and university with programmes concerning marine environment and superior marine mammals, leading to jobs related to marine environment and superior marine mammals, by offering a list of training programmes and PhD subjects for European students offered by CIRCE in collaboration with other organisations and associations.
