It's 6.00am on a cold December morning. Most of us are tucked up in bed dreaming of something pleasant, but in Dr. Adriana Vella's house the alarm rings. Being accustomed to these early morning rises, she springs out of bed, hurriedly pulling on her fleece and jacket, checks her kid, gulps down a quick coffee, kisses her husband good morning and she's off.

No, Dr. Vella is not another GP called out of bed to see to the ailments of a fellow human being. Adriana is a doctor of biology, conservation biology specifically, who is also undertaking a long-term study on marine mammals, the Dolphins and Whales of the Central and Southern Mediterranean Sea that surrounds the Maltese Islands. Her early morning starts take place not only on the odd occasion that a dolphin is stranded, but quite regularly, to join her research team on a planned aerial or marine survey of the waters around our Islands. She's off to record dolphin and whale species (cetaceans), numbers, probable ages, their direction of travel and their behavioral patterns. In particular she observes and records their feeding, nurturing of their young and mating behavior in their preferred habitats. She and her colleagues also investigate the associations between fisheries and different cetacean species, so as to examine the possible impacts and requirements for effective protection of cetaceans in a sea exploited by many, but protected by only a few.

Adriana's academic research project on dolphins and whales launched in 1996 developed a new dimension when she began to involve green volunteers in her research activities. These volunteers decided to form the Biological Conservation Research Foundation (BICREF) in 1998 with the purpose of assisting local conservation research projects. Though its activities have not included publicity, Adriana's and BICREF's efforts are slowing becoming wellknown in the Maltese Islands for their principal contribution to complement the body of cetacean research by other Mediterranean countries such as France, Spain, Greece and Italy. BICREF's assisted research project has filling this gap by gathering scientific data on sea mammals that inhabit the Central and Southern Mediterranean.

Most seafaring nations of the world have been concerned about the welfare of our closest relatives in the sea for a long time. Several international agreements have been made for the long-term protection of these fantastic marine mammals, one of which is the largest living animal in the world, the Blue Whale. We always associate the great whales with the world's oceans yet the humble Mediterranean Sea has its own whales, including the second largest creature in the world, the Fin Whale that can measure up to 22 metres from nose to tail - a sobering thought to keep in mind next time you're splashing about in the deep!!

Who is the intelligent one after all

Whales and dolphins are gentle and intelligent animals capable of assessing their environment, learning from experience and communicating over long distances. Some species migrate each year over enormous stretches of ocean to reach favourite mating spots, or places to rear their young. They are creatures whose family-closeness and fidelity to their mate would put some of us to shame. The largest whales are majestic feats of nature of such grand proportions that a small child could stand up and walk through its veins - yet we came close to exterminating these gently giants in order to make a bar of soap! It's equivalent to dismantling the great pyramids, or the world's oldest temples to get some stones to build a hunter's "dura"! The playfulness of dolphins is well documented, yet they are an extremely important part of the marine ecosystem as top predators in the food chain. The disappearance of these creatures would adversely affect the balance of nature in the waters around the Maltese Islands.

The research efforts of BICREF have brought our knowledge of the lifestyle of cetaceans in the Central Mediterranean up to the level needed to formulate conservation strategies with other Mediterranean rim countries. The research became possible through Adriana's collaboration with several organizations, including the AFM Maritime and Air Squadrons, the Malta Maritime Authority, the Department of Civil Protection, the organizers and participants of the Middle Sea Race and other local sailing races and the increasing number of boat owners and fishermen who have pledged their on-going support to this Marine Conservation Project. Scientific data collection and monitoring is fundamental to the proper maintenance of the health of these important species and will help ensure that marine biodiversity, under threat from so many of man's activities in this crowded Sea, will be preserved for generations to come.

And this is how Adriana and her assistants come to find themselves once again on a Malta Maritime vessel at daybreak, scouring the seas 10km NNW of Malta on a chilly December morning in search of new sightings and observations of our local dolphins.

A future for our friends with fins

Cetacean research is a task that takes a number of years to yield results because of the difficult nature of the data collection process - obtaining data about creatures that are difficult to track and observe in their natural medium. In these years that BICREF and Dr. Vella have been active, a substantial body of knowledge has been collected and scientific findings are constantly emerging from this data that are changing the way we think of Mediterranean cetaceans.

In an international conference held in December 2001 on Marine Mammal Science organized by the Marine Mammal Society in Vancouver, Dr. Adriana Vella presented her latest findings. The key result is an important association between cetaceans and shoals of fish of importance in the Mediterranean, and that these associations vary in strength and type according to the cetacean species.

Updates on the density and distribution of cetacean species around our Islands show that while Malta has its populations of the common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, other species have been disturbed in our waters to the extent that there has been a serious decrease in their abundance.

Malta is a signatory of a number of International Agreements that address cetacean protection. We therefore bear a heavy responsibility to be active in safeguarding the survival of cetacean species in our waters. No action would be possible without the full picture of the state of the cetacean population. Sustainable protection of Cetacean species in the Mediterranean depends on research projects such as the BICREF project that allows the causes for decreased survival and abundance of these animals in our seas to be assessed and a serious management plan for their long-term survival to be prepared. Long-lived organisms demand long-term monitoring, management and conservation, a fact that is now more relevant after Malta's ractification of the ACCOBAMS agreement for the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas last March. This BICREF-assisted scientific cetacean project thus looks forward to greater local financial support in its sustained research efforts and considerations for marine conservation areas.

As 2002 has been designated as the International Ecotourism Year by UNEP and WTO, Malta's effort to join in this concept has brought itself to plan different educational and promotional activities aimed at increasing this kind of tourism in the future in the Maltese Islands. Toward this end Malta's Ministry for Tourism also designated an Ecotourism Award to be won by the best NGO's project on Ecotourism presented. BICREF won this award, which is financed by the Ministry of Finance, and aims at working on increasing our local appreciation of what really Ecotourism is for the benefit of our natural environment and a more careful attitude toward nature's beauty and fragility.

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So do you want to get actively involved in the conservation projects developed by BICREF?

Contact Dr. Adriana Vella or one of her assistants on +356 2340 3049 (telephone/fax/answering machine).

Her address at the University is:

The Conservation Research Group
Department of Biology
University of Malta
Msida

OR

BICREF's contact address is:

BICREF
P.O. Box 30
Hamrun

BICREF focuses on allowing any person who genuinely wishes to contribute to the wellbeing of local biodiversity, including cetaceans, to do so. Therefore any person who would seriously like to dedicate time and energy to this cause is encouraged to get involved in the research/awareness activities. Whether these members have scientific qualifications or not is irrelevant because they all receive preliminary training in every aspect of the research project.

Even if you do not have time to dedicate as an active member of BICREF, you can still contribute to the enormous effort required to collect data by reporting any sighting of dolphins and whales within a 100km radius of the Maltese Islands. Other ways of respecting these gentle creatures and helping in effective conservation are:

* Be committed to enjoying our sea in a way that leaves its inhabitants as undisturbed as possible;
* Avoid the disposal of garbage in the sea;
* Decrease the amount of noise and fuel pollution out there by opting for sail instead of powerboats;
* Reduce fishing (unless it is your means of making a living);
* Even if you do depend on fishing for a living, restrict your catch to a sustainable level;
* When you are lucky enough to encounter a dolphin or other marine organism observe it from a distance (at least 100m) to respect its right to the peaceful use of its home.