• Conservation

  • Research

  • Public awareness

  • Education

  • Support to international conservation

A non-profit research organisation supporting marine conservation through science and public awareness with a focus on large marine vertebrates

37 years of experience

Since 1986 we are committed to preserve marine environment through the provision of scientific knowledge

Latest publications

Acoustic estimates of sperm whale abundance in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative
Boisseau O, Reid J, Ryan C, Moscrop A, McLanaghan R and Panigada S
2024
Front. Mar. Sci. 11:1164026
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1164026

PelaSIG, a QGIS plugin for marine megafauna census: application to the aerial ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative dataset
Nivière M, Blanchard A, Jraifi O, Van Canneyt O, Dorémus G, Spitz J, Mansoux B, Panigada S and Laran S
2024
Front. Mar. Sci. 10:1270335.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1270335


Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea: Encounter Rate, Dominant Species, and Diversity Hotspots

Gnone, G. et al.
2023
Diversity 2023, 15, 321.
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/3/321

Marine Ecomed – Erasmus+ Project

The MARINE_ECOMED project has been created through the support of the Erasmus+ EU Program with the objective to build an international strategic partnership to enhance research and education in the subject of sustainable marine management and communication strategies in this field, within the Mediterranean unique natural and socio-economic context. It is a 3 years project developed by a trans-sectoral international network of institutions such as Universities and Non-Governmental Organizations (among which it appears Tethys), which are geographically based on the European coast over an area that goes from the East (Greece) to the West (Spain) of the Mediterranean.

The main outputs of the project have been the implementation of an Intensive Study Program (ISP) for university students and the creation of new educational materials. The ISP focused on the multidisciplinary subject of planning and management of marine and coastal areas. It involved students from different academic institutions and with different backgrounds that will be trained through innovative integrated approaches and will collaborate in an international workshop to apply and integrate their knowledge in an interactive manner working on a real case study.

The new educational materials include a MOOC on Planning and management of marine and coastal areas and an Handbook on Marine education and communication in the Mediterranean.

The MOOC is open to free enrollment.

Want to be part of our field work team?

Meet whales and dolphins not just by whale watching, but by helping researchers concerned with marine conservation; Tethys’ ongoing long term projects have been conceived as responsible tourism/citizen science projects: non-specialists are a valuable help for researchers in the field and their support is essential.

A specific web site is dedicated to Tethys’ research expeditions open to non-specialised participants

VISIT WHALESANDDOLPHINS.TETHYS.ORG FOR UPDATES ON THE LATEST CITIZEN SCIENCE ACTIVITIES INVOLVING THE PUBLIC

Help us protecting our marine environment

Meet whales and dolphins not just by whale watching, but by helping researchers concerned with marine conservation; Tethys’ ongoing long term projects have been conceived as responsible tourism/citizen science projects: non-specialists are a valuable help for researchers in the field and their support is essential.

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With a donation you can contribute to study and safeguard mediterranean sperm whales and in particular social groups of females and calves. With the help of Siram Veolia, a benchmark company for ecological transformation, we are raising funds for additional surveys in winter, when these animals could be especially at risk of collision with cargo freighters.

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Dolphins and whales in the Mediterranean are increasingly in danger, exposed to threats ranging from habitat degradation, scarcity of prey caused by overfishing to noise. Contribute to their conservation by supporting the Tethys Research Institute and its work.

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For those who declare taxes in Italy a simple way to contribute is to donate the 5×1000 from your tax return. Sign and indicate the tax code in the area of your your income tax return (730, CUD).

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Tethys contributes to OBIS SEA MAP

Tethys’ dataset of cetacean sightings has been included in OBIS SEAMAP, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations; this is a spatially-referenced online database, which was developed by Duke University. His purpose is to aggregate observation data from across the globe about marine mammals, seabirds and sea-turtles.

Tethys’ dataset comprises the work carried out between 1986 and 2012 during shipboard surveys, conducted mainly in the Mediterranean Sea, and especially in the Corso-Ligurian-Provencal basin, in the Ionian Sea and in the Adriatic Sea. Extra Mediterranean Tethys’ cetaceans sightings, collected in the Atlantic Ocean(Canary Islands, Morocco coasts) and in the Caribbean Sea, has been also provided.

Our partnerships