The marine mammal research team at Archipelagos institute, has monitored the populations of dolphins and whales in various regions of the Greek Seas and the NE Mediterranean for the past 20 years. This contributes to their marine conservation efforts. An interesting aspect of the marine mammal research carried out in Archipelagos focuses on the analysis of their communication sounds and the correlation between the behavior of common bottlenose dolphins, stripped dolphins and short beaked common dolphins in relation to the noise caused by small and large vessels.Noise-pollution caused by ships has been an increasing concern for conservationists in the past decades, as it may have severe effects on marine life, especially marine mammals.Dolphins are some of the most intelligent and sociable wild animals. Using sounds called ‘whistles’ and echolocation sounds called ‘clicks’ they communicate with their species.
An interesting result from our research in the field is the change in the sound whistle frequency of dolphins in the presence of vessels. By doing so, dolphins manage to surpass the noise barrier caused by the boats and manage to communicate amongst them.