A short video on the decline of coastal dolphins in the Mediterranean, made in 2004.

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	3 min 34 sec Language: Italian, English subtitles Year: 2004

Technical information

Filmed in Greece between 2001 and 2003, with a Canon XM1 digital camcorder. Edited in 2004 using FinalCut Pro on a Macintosh computer. Short-beaked common dolphins, common bottlenose dolphins, the fin whale, the monk seal and the marine turtle were all filmed in the coastal waters of western Greece. The dead common bottlenose dolphin hanging from a small trawler was photographed in 1992 in Veli Losinj, Croatia.

Acknowledgements

This video was produced by WDCS The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. OceanCare participated in the production and sponsored the filming equipment. The Tethys Research Institute offered additonal support. Final Cut Pro—the video editing software—was sponsored by Apple. Work on coastal dolphins by Giovanni Bearzi has been supported by a Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship, a programme of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science.

Silvia Bonizzoni is the main character in the video. Throughout the making of this project she provided assistance, valuable suggestions and warm encouragement. Stefano Agazzi, Joan Gonzalvo and Cristiana Miglio helped during the making of some scenes. Stefano also filmed the marine turtle and the dolphins shown in the last seconds of the video. Randall R. Reeves provided suggestions to improve the narration. Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara offered two photos of Mediterranean coastline taken in the island of Patmos, Greece, and in the bay of Ieranto near Capri, Italy. Chris Johnson and Mauro Bastianini offered technical support.

Transcript

The Mediterranean Sea, a place where dolphins have always caught the human imagination. A natural paradise where seeing dolphins from the coast and encountering them at sea was a normal occurrence.

Here, dolphin images permeated artistic expression since ancient times.
But all this was going to change.

Thousands of dolphins were killed in the first half of the twentieth century, as human perception turned them from mythical animals to competitors for fisheries.

Large-scale killings eventually stopped, but dolphins did not recover.

Coastal dolphins were still relatively abundant in the 1960s, but 20 years later the scientists began to record the fist evidence of decline.

Today, coastal dolphins have become rare sights in many of the places where they used to swim in large schools.

Coastal dolphins feed on prey that has been severely overfished. Mediterranean fish stocks are now so depleted that dolphins no longer find easy food.

Incidental mortality in fishing gear represents another serious threat.

Contamination by man-made chemicals can have debilitating effects on their health and ability to reproduce successfully.

What can we do to try to solve these problems, what can we do to ensure a future for these animals and make the Mediterranean a better place? As individuals, we can do a lot.

Individual choices make a difference and all of us can do something. As consumers, we can influence the markets, buy responsibly and recycle. As voters, we can empower sensible politicians and support those who advocate sustainable fisheries and marine protected areas.

Indeed, we can join conservation organisations and get engaged, because coastal dolphins deserve a better future.

(Narrator: Giovanni Bearzi)