MUNICH/ZAGREB - (for PDF of press release in German, click here) - The handover of a project vehicle and trailer as well as other important equipment, including a Nikon digital camera, underlined the commitment by the Mitsubishi Corporation Fund for Europe and Africa (MCFEA) to save the last dolphins that have survived in the Adriatic Sea off the Croatian coastline. James E. Brumm (MCFEA Trustee, and Executive Vice President of Mitsubishi International Corporation in New York) and Julie Rogers (MCFEA Secretary, London) visited Zagreb in late August to officially hand over the equipment to the dolphin conservation team led by Prof. Gomercic of the Veterinary Faculty of Zagreb University.

Today, only about 220 dolphins live in Croatian waters year round. They are facing threats from fisheries, direct killing by fishermen for alleged food competition, and increasing watercraft activities. Four years ago, GRD founded the project to "Save the Last Adriatic Dolphins" together with veterinary faculty members of Zagreb University.

The field work carried out since June 2000 helps to identify those areas which are vital to the dolphins in terms of feeding and breeding. The data thus collected will serve to designate one or several protected areas. The project's work also includes immediate measures for marine mammals in distress, i.e. injured animals or those that do not find their way back to the sea from bays or rivers due to disorientation. Thanks to their continuous awareness raising efforts, the conservationists have already achieved a better understanding and acceptance of the necessity to protect the threatened marine mammals among both the Croatian population and foreign tourists.

The project members' hopes are to establish a dolphin conservation centre as early as next year, preferably in the region of Zadar, a coastal town in northern Dalmatia. The purpose of the station is not only to serve as a base for the fieldwork, offering research and training opportunities for students and volunteers, but also as a centre for exhibitions and educational and informative events about the last bottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic and other marine mammals occasionally coming to the area, such as fin whales.

The MCFEA has been providing substantial support to the project since 2003. Other project sponsors include Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid); Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Tierschutz/ProTier (Swiss Society for Animal Welfare/ProTier); Rockefeller Economies Germany; LTU Touristik; and BLTV (Bavarian Scuba Divers' Association).

Gesellschaft zur Rettung der Delphine (German Society for Dolphin Conservation)

Gesellschaft zur Rettung der Delphine (German Society for Dolphin Conservation)

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