News

The new course dates have been set: 11. – 25. November 2023 !!! Course content: We are now including a new focus area: in addition to general information about the whale and dolphin species encountered, behavioural biology methods for data collection, various aspects on the threats and conservation efforts for the animals and their habitat, we will also be dealing with bioacoustics: how do whales and dolphins communicate with each other, what does it sound like and how does ambient noise affect it? This year’s team includes the biologist Elke Burkhardt, who also has a lot of expedition experience from... Continue Reading

We can be really proud of ourselves, because to coincide with our 25th anniversary, MEER was invited to participate in an expert workshop on marine mammal conservation throughout Spain. Things moved very quickly. There was just over a week between the invitation and arrival, so a lot of flexibility was required. Our 2nd chairman Volker Smit accepted the invitation without further ado. Our research department (Christina Sommer) made sure to compile the correct sighting data in up-to-date maps for this workshop at very short notice and as a result we were able to provide clear information on the various cetacean... Continue Reading

After 15 years of negotiations, the UN member states, including Germany, have agreed on a treaty to protect the high seas. In the future, at least 30% of the world’s high seas, which have so far lacked any protection by law, are to be designated as protected areas. In addition to this, any expeditions, economic projects and other activities within these areas are to be assessed for environmental compatibility. The treaty must now be ratified by the individual member states. Upon ratification, marine protected areas can be designated by a three-quarters majority of member states, preventing obstruction by individual nations.... Continue Reading

MEER e.V. now has an association profile on the donation website “gooding.de”. With this the association or one of its specific projects can very easily be supported with online purchases. Depending on the online shop, approx. 5% of the purchase value (excluding VAT and shipping) goes to the association of choice. There are no additional costs. If you install the gooding toolbar in your browser, you will be directly informed that your current purchase supports MEER e.V. More under this link: https://www.gooding.de/m-e-e-r-e-v-107631

Our New Year’s post recently went out to all of our supporting members! We would like to thank everyone who supports us with either regular or one-off donations and all those who are giving up some of their free time to keep the association running. Without you we would not be able to continue our research and the protection of the oceans. We are looking forward to an exciting 2023! PS: Our cards are produced in a climate neutral manner with green electricity, printed on recycled paper and with vegan vegetable oil-based inks. And for all those who didn´t receive... Continue Reading

In the past months we have made a huge step forward in the digitalisation of our data recording in cooperation with the company Pegenau (Erfurt): Software developer Stefan Werfling has developed an app specifically for M.E.E.R. e.V. that digitally records sightings of whales and dolphins. Sighting data (coordinates of the sighting, species, displayed behaviour, group size and composition, etc.) can now be digitally collected on each tour and fed directly into the database. In addition to this, photos can also be taken with a tablet, assigned to the respective sighting and uploaded to the database. The tour’s location data is... Continue Reading

From September 17th to October 1st 2022 a behavioural biology course under the direction of biologist Christina Sommer took place on La Gomera for the first time since the pandemic related restrictions had been put in place. This waiting period was used to rearrange and update the course content somewhat: In addition to the usual elaboration of behavioural biology methods, two additional focal points were set: the first on land-based observation and the calculation of associated sighting coordinates, the other on habitat threats and conservation efforts for cetaceans off the island. In addition, the latest scientific publications were presented (e.g.... Continue Reading