Marine Conservation Research International is a unique not-for-profit organisation conducting practical conservation projects on vulnerable marine wildlife and habitats, and investigating human impacts including threats such as underwater noise, disturbance and marine debris. R/V Song of the Whale is the team’s purpose built sailing research vessel.

News & Info

ASI Survey Blocks 7 & 4, west of Sardinia towards the Balearic Islands

ASI Survey Blocks 7 & 4, west of Sardinia towards the Balearic Islands

Laura Mannocci, who has just completed a contract as a postdoctoral associate at Duke University’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, joined the team as a participant in Sardinia. Mainly office based in recent years, working on a cetacean density modelling project for the Mediterranean Sea, she is pleased to be offshore now, taking part in collecting… Continue Reading

Posted by Anna Moscrop
ASI Survey Blocks 3 & 6, Spain, Algeria and on towards Sardinia

ASI Survey Blocks 3 & 6, Spain, Algeria and on towards Sardinia

Souad Lamouti, a researcher from the Algerian National Research Center for the Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Centre National de Recherche pour le de Développement de la Pèche et de l’Aquaculture (CNRDPA) and four of her colleagues joined the Song of the Whale team in Malaga. Souad describes their time on board…. Every researcher in… Continue Reading

Posted by Anna Moscrop
ASI survey blocks 1 & 2: Portugal, Morocco and Spain

ASI survey blocks 1 & 2: Portugal, Morocco and Spain

Our team of ten departed Vilamoura, Portugal on 28 May for a 3-month visual and acoustic survey of the Mediterranean Sea. The Song of the Whale is one of several vessels undertaking the most comprehensive ‘snap-shot’ cetacean survey ever conducted of the Mediterranean Sea, the ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative (ASI). This project aims to estimate the… Continue Reading

Posted by Anna Moscrop
ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative begins in the Mediterranean Sea

ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative begins in the Mediterranean Sea

The first comprehensive whale and dolphin survey of the whole Mediterranean Sea begins this week, with a launch event hosted by the IUCN in Malaga on World Ocean’s Day, 8th June. The Mediterranean and Black Seas are home to 12 regularly reported species of whales and dolphins; human pressures on these semi-enclosed seas are intense,… Continue Reading

Posted by Anna Moscrop