Dear All, The following paper is now available. PDF reprints are available upon request (contact email: B_D_R_I@yahoo.com) THE IMPACT OF A FISH FARM ON A BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN POPULATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. Bruno Díaz López, Luca Marini & Federico Polo. Thalassas, An international Journal of marine sciences. Vol 21 (2), 2005. ABSTRACT The increasing presence of aquaculture in coastal waters calls for a better understanding of its environmental effects. Despite a number of studies focusing on the impact of aquaculture on marine mammals, the interaction between common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) with fish farms has been the subject of few investigations. In this paper we report the results of our research on the interaction between bottlenose dolphins with a fish farm on the Sardinian coast (Italy) from 1991 to 2004. We divided the study area latitudinally into two sections: southern (Gulf of Olbia) and northern (Gulf of Congianus). In the southern section in November 1995 the plant of a small fish farm was completely increased and transformed. Data were pooled into two periods (1991 to 1994 and 1999 to 2004). All years but 2003 were sampled. During the first and second research periods the same land-based searches were conducted under fair to excellent weather conditions. A total of 255 sightings were carried out in over 1320 hours of research of dolphins: in the first period 52 sightings were recorded in 517 hours of research, in the second period 203 sightings were realized in 803 hours of research. The presence of bottlenose dolphins changed dramatically between the two research periods. Observations of dolphins indicate that they are mainly present in the southern area during the second period. The preference for the southern section seemed to be consistent after the transformation of the fish farm, since 1995. Keywords: bottlenose dolphins, aquaculture, fish farm, marine mammals, Sardinian coast Best regards, Bruno Díaz López Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute www.geocities.com/B_D_R_I B_D_R_I@yahoo.com V.Diaz 4 Golfo Aranci (SS) Italy tel: 00 39 346 0815414 --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates. --------------------------------- Get amazing travel prices for air and hotel in one click on Yahoo! FareChase