- Title: ITALY: SANCTUARY: WHALE-WATCHING OFF LIGURIAN COAST.
- Date: 26th June 2004
- Summary: (L!1) GENOA, ITALY (JUNE 26, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. FERRY BOAT RIDING IN CHOPPY WATERS 2. A WOMAN POINTING OUT TO SEA 3. PEOPLE ON BOAT LOOKING OUT AT SEA 4. VARIOUS OF A WHALE 5. TWO PEOPLE LOOKING OUT AT SEA 6. PEOPLE LOOKING OUT AT SEA 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAOLO GUGLIELMI, WWF HEAD OF MEDITERRANEAN PROJECT FOR MARINE FAUNA, SAYING: "It is crucially important to protect whales because whales are top predators and are at the top of the food chain in the oceans. If we are able to protect whales and dolphins, we are able to protect the whole environment where they are living in. This means protecting an enormous number of species and an enormous number of habitats that they are living in. 8. VARIOUS OF DOLPHIN VARIETY RISSOS DOLPHIN 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GUGLIELMI SAYING: The Ligurian sanctuary is a very important and crucial area for cetaceans because in summer time the nutrients that are present here give the possibility to the krill which is the food of the whale to concentrate here. And this is the reason why during summer time whales are concentrating here for feeding. Protecting this area means, for the first time, including international waters to legal protection. This is an event which has been happening all year in the Mediterranean, thanks to the cooperation of three initial countries like France, Spain and Italy and then it has been recognised by all the other 22 countries in the Mediterranean 10. VARIOUS OF VARIETY STRIPED DOLPHIN RIDING ON WAVES 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ENZO MAIORCA, ITALIAN FREE-DIVING CHAMPION, SAYING: I have extremely sad experiences with dolphins. I have seen dolphins that are like tragic sea stalagmites because fisherman had tied to their large fin a heavy weight in order to make them suffocate 12. VARIOUS OF DOLPHINS JUMPING 13. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) FRANCO MARTINI, PAYING PASSENGER FOR WHALE WATCHING, SAYING: All the people that are here, just at the sight of a whale, were overwhelmed and happy. I think all of this can serve to help maintain what we are saying 14. COMMON WHALE 15. PEOPLE POINTING 16. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF RISSOS DOLPHIN Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LIGURIAN COAST, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA26ZMSGYKJT9S6T0YPCHAGGHLR
- Story Text: Whale watching may be a life-changing experience.
But it also may be a way to earn good money, say
environmentalists who help to run the biggest whale
sanctuary in the Mediterranean Sea.
Whales are the biggest creatures on the planet, with
some species more than 20 meters long and more than 100
tonnes in weight. Their beauty, intelligence and social
behaviour have always been admired by people.
Whales and other sea mammals have lived in the
Mediterranean Sea since ancient times. Ancient Romans used
to call Costa Balenae, or Whales coast, what is now known
as the Italian Riviera. The name of the glamorous resort
Portofino comes from Latin Portus Delphinii.
But as modern civilisation advanced, whale hunting,
fishing, increasing ship traffic and pollution drove
cetaceans further away from the coast and brought some of the species,
including blue whales, to the edge of
extinction.
"It is crucially important to protect whales because
whales are top predators and are at the top of the food
chain in the oceans", said Paolo Guglielmi,44, head of
marine unit at the WWF Mediterranean Programme.
"If we are able to protect whales and dolphins, we are
able to protect the whole environment where they are living
in. This means protecting an enormous number of species and
an enormous number of habitats that they are living in, he
said on the deck of La Supberba boat heading to open sea
from Italy's Ligurian coast."
In 1999, after 10 years of strong lobbing by
environmentalist groups, Italy, France and Monaco signed a
treaty establishing the Whale Sanctuary to protect
cetaceans in their natural habitats off the Italian and
French Rivieras.
With its 84,000 square km area and about 2,000 km of
the coast line is the biggest protected area in the
Mediterranean Sea and the first one to include
international waters.
Environmentalists who helped to set up and run the
sanctuary say its ecosystem is unique and offers perfect
temperature and nourishment conditions for whales.
"The Ligurian sanctuary is a very important and crucial
area for cetaceans because in summer time the nutrients
that are present here give the possibility to the krill
which is the food of the whale to concentrate here", said
Guglielmi.
Up to 3,500 whales come relatively close to the coast
to feed during the summer, and scientists believe the
Mediterranean whales stay in the region in winter, moving
into the open sea.
The Sanctuary allows the scientists to study whales and
other sea mammals in their natural environment, and educate
common people about them.
Commercial whaling, together with irresponsible
fishing, present the biggest threat to cetaceans, killing
thousands of them a year and with unacceptable cruelty,
conservationists say.
Smaller sea mammals fall prey of irresponsible fishing,
often illegal and cruel.
Environmentalists believe that whale-watching, popular
in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, not only
educates people but may be an alternative way to earn
money, providing jobs in traditionally fishing and whaling
coastal communities.
One tourist boat which takes about 200 people on board
can earn up to some 250,000 euros in the summer season
taking curious holiday-makers to whale-watching.
The sanctuary also helps protect cetaceans from
the main threats that human civilisation presents as
environmentalists put pressure on the governments and
industrial bodies to rein in fishing, limit ship traffic
and tighten anti-pollution measures.
In one of Italy's worst ecological disasters, the
Cypriot-registered tanker Haven sank in April 1991, leaking
more than 100,000 barrels of oil into the bay of Genoa.
But this dwarfs in comparison with some million barrels
of oil spilled every year in the Mediterranean Sea -- which
accounts for some 25 percent of the global oil traffic --
by tankers discharging waste oil into the sea to avoid
costly and lengthy rinsing in ports, environmentalists say.
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