The Tursiops Association has completed the CALMA project to characterise marine mammals in the seamounts of the Mallorca Channel. This has made it possible to expand the catalogue of the Natura 2000 Network and improve the measures for nautical activity.

The Tursiops Association has completed the project ‘Characterization of the presence of cetaceans in the seamounts of the canAL of Mallorca: CALMA’. An initiative that has had the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition within the framework of its 2017 call for grants. Its purpose has been the characterisation of marine mammals in the seamounts of the Mallorca Channel to facilitate progress in completing the Natura 2000 Network. In previous years, the Association was a beneficiary of the ESTEMAR (I AND II) project, which determined the number and type of cetaceans in the Balearic Islands.

The CALMA project has demonstrated the suitability of passive acoustic techniques for the monitoring of cetaceans and marine noise. During almost a year of sampling, 15,728 recordings have been obtained, representing a total of 62,912 minutes of valuable information through the installation of a hydrophone on Monte Olives, located in the Canal de Mallorca.

6 species of cetaceans corresponding to common dolphins, pilot whales, pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins and sperm whales have been detected through the analysis of whistles and clicks, the latter two being the most abundant in Mount Olives. The results obtained on the presence of these species in different months and seasons of the year, the underwater noise data and the comparison with previous studies in other seamounts, are a relevant fact to be taken into account in the future management of seamounts. A concluded example is the determination of a greater presence of sperm whales during the summer season, a period that coincides with the increase in nautical activity, supposing a greater risk of collision.