Bioacoustics: A tool for the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Massive human presence in the Mediterranean and inadequate management of marine resources have recently become a threat to marine mammal survival in this region. The main problems facing cetaceans in the Mediterranean include: by‐catch in fisheries competition with artisanal coastal gillnet fisheries, presence of noxious manmade, compounds in the trophic chains, and finally, a generalised degradation of environmental quality, particularly evident over the continental shelf, caused by loss of biodiversity, depletion of living resources, increased human disturbance, and changes in the physical and chemical properties of the environment. Conserving cetaceans in the Mediterranean is a modern challenge: appropriate management schemes and pollution control measures should enable marine mammals to coexist with intense human activities, and the Mediterranean could provide an excellent testing ground for such an enterprise. Recent developments in the field of marine bioacoustics could provide information highly relevant to the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea: acoustic surveys can be performed to monitor the distribution and relative abundance pelagic species, and to investigate habitat partitioning of coastal species. Analysis of distinctive vocalisations can indicate the likelihood of links between Mediterranean an Atlantic populations. Finally, acoustics can play a major role in solving problems posed by interactions between cetacean and fisheries, in monitoring the effects of high‐intensity acoustic deterrents, and to understand the possible negative effects of some manmade noise on cetacean populations.