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Conservation strategies: a meeting on board

Two days packed with presentations, hands-on activities and debates marked the 22-23 October 2024 outing along the Civitavecchia-Barcelona route on Grimaldi Lines’s Cruise Roma ferry. Guests on board, all the partners of LIFE Conceptu Maris, its Advisory Board and some members of the EU Marine Transborder Transect IMPEL network (EUMTT): Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (MASE), University of Barcelona, Gaia Research Institute, Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, Fondazione per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile, Ragvin Foundation, CIIMAR (Portugal). There were also many practical activities, including sightings, collection of stable isotope samples and environmental DNA, useful for involving and educating the participants of the two projects on the actions carried out.

An important networking moment, in which it was possible to discuss the results obtained by the two projects and evaluate a lasting synergy. Among the most interesting elements: new monitoring protocols of cetaceans and turtles to be tested, data analysis systems, the evaluation of cetaceans as providers of ecosystem services and also a game dedicated to the role of cetaceans in marine ecosystems curated by Ragvin.

During the two days, the monitoring and collection of environmental DNA obviously continued, during which striped dolphins, fin whales and sperm whales were spotted.