Let’s Go! Launch of the ASI Air Campaign Workshop

From May 23rd to 28th, an international training workshop is held at the aerodrome of Cuers, in the Var, which is part of the “ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative” (ASI) Project to carry out the first cetacean census campaign at the scale of the Mediterranean Sea.

This workshop, bringing together about 50 Mediterranean and Black Sea scientists who will conduct aerial surveys during the campaigns, was the occasion to launch, on May 23, the aerial part of the cetacean census campaign of June and July 2018, in presence of the Permanent Secretariat of the Agreement, the French Agency for Biodiversity, the “Préfecture Maritime” and several Partners.

All Mediterranean countries are participating in this unprecedented effort on this scale. Five research vessels, eight aircraft and no less than 100 observers will be mobilized simultaneously throughout the Mediterranean this summer for the conservation of these migratory species.

The ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative is supported by the MAVA Foundation, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Agriculture and Environment of Spain, the French Agency for Biodiversity, the Ministry for the Protection of the Environment, the Territory and the Sea of ​​Italy and the Principality of Monaco.

The full ASI aerial team