Dear all,

We are pleased to share with you some important conservation news regarding the cetaceans of the Hellenic Trench, Greece, and especially the Endangered sperm whales and the Vulnerable Cuvier's beaked whales (Mediterranean sub-population). After more than 25 years of efforts of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, in collaboration with all our partners and allies (OceanCare, IFAW, Inst. Applied & Computational Mathematics of FORTH, WWF Greece, GreenTank and others) we can see the future of "our" whales with optimism.

On 17 April 2024 during the 9th Our Ocean Conference, Greece has committed (commitments 2A and 13) to:

1) Establish "THE IONIAN MARINE NATIONAL PARK (from north of Kefallonia to south of Antikythira) with a total area of over 14,000 km2. The park covers over 11% of Greek territorial waters, the Ionian segment of the Hellenic trench being its core... The park is established because the area is very important for marine mammals such as Physeter macrocephalus, Ziphius cavirostris and Stenella coeruleoalba.

2) "ESTABLISH MONITORING AND EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR PASSING BY SHIPS TO IDENTIFY ON TIME LARGE
MARINE MAMMALS so that the ships that are in the Greek territorial waters slow down and avoid collision with them in the area between Kythira, Cape Tainaro and Cape Maleas". This commitments refers to the construction, deployment and implementation of the pioneer SAvE Whales (System for the Avoidance of collisions with Endangered sperm Whales) that is described in a short educational video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_qBbs2dabw

The official document of Greece's commitments can be found at: https://www.ourocean2024.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/A5_OOC-9_PROPOSED-COMMITMENTS_12.4.pdf

Committing for all the above is very positive and promising. It also shows that organizing the Our Ocean Conference in a country adds a lot of pressure to the local authorities to accept and commit for mature conservation measures. However, the whales of the Hellenic Trench will not feel the difference in their lives until the commitments are fulfilled and protection measures are implemented. In addition, W and S Crete, which is also part of the critical habitat of the whales will not be part of the protected areas. On the contrary, seismic surveys are still going on with plans to start drilling soon.

While being finally more optimistic than ever, we will continue our efforts hoping that with the support of all the cetacean and conservation community we will eventually make the whales feel safer in their habitat.

The history
The population unit of sperm whales in the Hellenic Trench was discovered in 1998 by the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and keeps being monitored since that time. The population trend is declining with numbers that are currently estimated to range between 150 and 200 animals. Ship-strikes have been identified as the major threat for this population unit, but seismic surveys, noise pollution and macro-plastic ingestion also occur in its critical habitat.
The population unit of Cuvier's beaked whales in the Hellenic Trench became globally known in 1998, after the second well known mass stranding of the species in the area (more than 20 individuals), which was due to military sonar use by NATO.
For all the above reasons on 2007, at the third meeting of ACCOBAMS, the Parties included the Hellenic Trench in the map of proposed Marine Protected Areas for Cetaceans and ask the Greek authorities to make the necessary steps towards this direction.
In 2017, the Hellenic Trench was the first area to be listed as an IMMA (Important Marine Mammal Area) by the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force.

Best wishes,
Alexandros

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Dr. Alexandros Frantzis 
Scientific director 
Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute 
Terpsichoris 21 
16671 Vouliagmeni, 
GREECE 
Tel.: +30-210-8960108 
e-mail: afrantzis@otenet.gr 
website: http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyp-eiteK0GBb0Lr5psk0g
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