engleski

The north-eastern Adriatic bottlenose dolphin population : current conservation status and future research needs

The Adriatic Dolphin Project (ADP) is a long-term study on the ecology and conservation of a resident bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population of about 100 individuals inhabiting the Cres-Lošinj archipelago in the northern Adriatic Sea. This project - established by Tethys in 1987 - has been run since 2001 by the Blue World Institute in parallel with two other conservation and management programmes: the Lošinj Marine Reserve (officially proclaimed by the Ministry of Culture last August) and the Adriatic Marine Turtle Programme (carried out in cooperation with the Croatian Natural History Museum of Zagreb). This area experiences heavy human exploitation, seasonally by tourism and year-round by small-scale fisheries, increasing yearly. Rigorous scientific research on protected species, therefore, is especially needed to assess their status and aid their conservation. An overview of the main scientific findings obtained between 1995 and now will be presented. Particular emphasis will be given to results from analyses on: 1) factors affecting distribution and habitat use of bottlenose dolphins ; and 2) population dynamics and trends in abundance, including the first survival estimates for a Mediterranean population of bottlenose dolphins. The multidisciplinary and cooperative approach taken by the Blue World Institute team towards managing all research projects represents a growing trend in combining academia with policy implementation and has been fundamental in stimulating the development of the Lošinj Marine Reserve. The designation of the reserve represented one of the few examples of how policy makers and researchers can effectively work together towards a common goal.

ecology; conservation; Tursiops truncatus; northern Adriatic sea

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