Castelsardo, success for the first scouting mission of the "Sardinia, the forgotten giants" project

In conjunction with the celebrations for World Oceans Day 2023, the first scouting mission of the "Sardinia, the forgotten giants" project created by "R!SE" in collaboration with WWF Italy and the Comunale, dedicated to the first research on cetaceans held in the Castelsardo Canyon since 1984.

The program envisaged a research activity, with innovative technologies at an international level, to investigate the possible presence of cetaceans in the deep gorge which, from the center of the gulf, descends from the continental slope in a north-westerly direction. For the search for marine mammals, aerial drones, hydrophones, environmental DNA (eDNA) detection kits and underwater drones were used on board a boat made available by Boomerang, a charter agency in Olbia.

It was precisely the hydrophonists Sara Ferri and Gerardo Sorrentino of the Anton Dohrn zoological station, one of the most important international research bodies in the marine biology sector, who confirmed what was repeatedly sighted and reported by local fishermen, and Michele Cimino above all who actively collaborated with the research group.

"Our administration recognizes the importance of protecting the marine mammals present in our waters and we are committed to carrying out concrete actions for their protection - concludes the mayor Antonio Capula - we focus on the environment both for its protection and for the possibility of its enhancement in terms of tourism. The evocative Whale Watching in the Pelagos sanctuary is already a reality in Liguria and could become one here too».

Castelsardo had also joined the research project called Sardinia North Cetaceans, promoted by the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Sassari, with the specific aim of monitoring, through a crew made up of veterinarians, naturalists and marine biologists, the presence of cetaceans in Northern Sardinia and assess their state of health, and took part, as the only Sardinian municipality, last March in Monaco Ocean Week 2023, the forum of the Pelagos Initiative, entirely dedicated to the Sanctuary.

The Castelsardo Canyon is also part of the "10 areas for new and strengthened protection", identified by the WWF in Italy, the only one in Sardinia together with the Sanctuary of Caprera.