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End captivity for dolphins in Europe! 28th of June was a very particular day for the dolphin defenders of Europe. For the 2nd year, a small group of enthusiasts organised – with the help of Animal Rights organization Bite Back – a European demo against dolphinaria. Special guest was Ric O’Barry, the ex-trainer of Flipper, but since 40 year on a constant quest to put an end to all kinds of dolphin suffering and captivity of cetaceans. 400+ activists from all over Europe joined Ric at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels to demand a dolphinaria-free Europe. The atmosphere... Continue Reading

Berlin, June 2014. Summarized by Volker Boehlke based on articles by „Ecologistas en Acción“, translated by Pia Ditscher. On June, 5th 2014 the international „Day of environment“, five big nature conservation associations (Amigos de la tierra, Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace, SEO/BirdLife and WWF) came together in Madrid to point out the problems resulting from oil drillings. The protest was induced by the decision of the Minister for the Environment to permit the oil drillings off the Canary Islands. With their protest the organisations want to support the planned demonstrations at the Canaries and all over the country for the following weekend.

Berlin/Liège, Juni 2014. Successful MEER workshop at the ECS Conference! M.E.E.R. e.V. organized and conducted a one day workshop during this year’s ECS (European Cetacean Society) conference: “Communicating marine mammal science to the general public”, and it was a great success. Twenty participants from 9 different countries, interested in education, enthusiastically took the opportunity to interact intensely. Initially, there were several lectures on various projects that link whale and dolphin research with education in a meaningful way. The onset was made by our 2nd chairman, Volker Smit, who introduced the project M.E.E.R. La Gomera and its increasing educational work on... Continue Reading

2nd ECS workshop on „Communicating marine mammal science to the general public“ After the successful first workshop at the 27th ECS in Setubal we want to continue to share educational and outreaching experiences of communicating marine mammal science to schools and to the general public. These experiences can be educational programs that support school curricula, pedagogical outreach materials such as books, videos, kits, activities and exhibitions. The workshop is open to researchers, educators, science teachers, and to the media. This year we want to focus on the theme of the conference: “Marine mammals as sentinels of a changing environment“.

  Sensational video footage Berlin/La Gomera, October 2013. Off the Canary island of La Gomera, video footage was taken for the first time showing a spectacular behavior performed by beaked whales, a less investigated cetacean taxa. A group of animals was leaping with individual whales showing very high jumps several times in a row – a behavior rarely ever observed and difficult to explain. Beaked whales are known to be shy and generally behave in an inconspicuous manner. They avoid ships, are sensitive to disturbance and spend most of their time below the surface. These less researched cetaceans dive extremely... Continue Reading

La Gomera in April/May 2013. Two incredibly intense weeks are now behind us already. This year’s MEER practical course was characterized by numerous great sightings and an incredible team spirit. On balance we had a great number of sightings because of the really good conditions.

Berlin, June 2012 M.E.E.R. has recently published a new scientific report constituting another milestone of the scientific work of our association. The report lays out the model of a marine protected area (MPA) for sustainable whale watching in the waters off La Gomera (Canary Islands).

As a follow up to a posting to MARMAM on the skin anomaly observed in a bottlenose dolphin off La Gomera (see below) we summarize the feedback by many researchers. Thanks to everyone who provided advice and suggestions. We appreciate that it is very difficult to diagnose on the basis of a photographic image. Persistent remora damage was suggested by several researchers. In Hawaii, researchers observed an individual young Tursiops with a skin “rash” that looked like the one in our photo.  Each time the animal was seen, it was with an attached remora.  In some remora species at least,... Continue Reading