The campaign for the use of acoustic bollards by fishermen working in the Torre del Cerrano Marine Protected Area, a partner in the European Life Delfi project coordinated by lrbim-CNR, has begun. In the Adriatic Sea, also in the Abruzzo region, the dissemination of devices designed to reduce the interactions of fishing with dolphins, the objective of the project co-financed by the EU LIFE programme, is doubling.
These devices, commonly called “pingers”, have been provided to fishermen by the Torre del Cerrano MPA operators. These devices emit sounds, which interfere with the complex bioacoustics of the dolphins, and drive them away from the fishing gear. The trip out to sea to monitor the use of the pingers by the scientific operators of the Centro Studi Cetacei (Cetacean Research Centre), which collaborates with the project by supporting the Torre del Cerrano AMP, is only the last step in the Life Delfi project, which first involved a long phase of training fishermen and setting up the equipment. In the coming days the Cetacean Research Centre, consultant of the Marine Protected Area, will continue monitoring both on board and at landing, with the aim of comparing the fishing success of the system with pingers compared to nets without them, thus assessing in detail the catch and the possible presence of dolphins near the fishing equipment.
The entire operation will involve the valuable collaboration of small-scale fishermen, to whom we would like to extend our thanks for their support for such an ambitious and important project for the entire local community.