Four-day educational seminar for field teams

Given that LIFE MareNatura will conduct research on 9 different species, in 40 different marine pilot areas in Greece and Italy with the involvement of 3 to 5 people from 9 entities, organizations, and universities, it becomes evident that without coordination and training of all those involved, the success of the project would be doubtful.

For this reason, three internal two-day seminars have been planned, the first two of which took place from November 28 to December 1, 2023, at the hospitable facilities of the Agricultural School of ELGO Dimitra, in Ampelouzos of the Municipality of Faistos.

These days were dedicated to familiarizing the participants with all the methods, techniques, and tools that will be used both for the recording and monitoring of the populations of the target species (aerial and floating means, radar, drones, thermal cameras, hydrophones, optical recordings, photographic recognition, etc.) and for marking and collecting biological and other material (capture and handling, placement of satellite transmitters, blood sampling, tissue, e-DNA, etc.) from a large number of individuals of the species of the project.

Practical training was also conducted on the last day of the seminar for the capture and handling of seabirds as well as the satellite transmitters tagging methods.

In early spring 2024 and if weather conditions permit, the third and final internal educational seminar will be held for the teams that will conduct the aerial and floating research for the cetaceans of the project.