Dolphins in Cyprus

On the way back to Thalassa, a pod of dolphins joined us and jumped and played in the waves alongside the boat. Captain Jon, originally from the UK, has lived in Cyprus for the past two years told us that it was the first time he had seen dolphins in Cyprus. Michelle, who grew up in Cyprus, called her mom in the UK to report the sightings. Pete and Kathy, cameras in hand, tried to capture the dolphins on film, running from side to side of the boat. Eventually Pete climbed on top of the boat as we excitedly called out sightings to him, 7 o’clock, 4 o’clock, etc, until it was finally, “just keeping shooting Pete, and don’t fall in!” We continued on to Thalassa, under an enormous rainbow that spanned across the sky, trailed by 5 dolphins, a most amazing day!     read more
 

Large Schools of Dolphins Cause Trouble

NICOSIA (March 21 1997) XINHUA - Large schools of dolphins have fled to the Mediterranean in the wake of mass deaths in the North Sea, causing trouble for fishermen in Cyprus.

Last week, Cypriot fishermen marched on the Presidential Palace demanding compensation for damage to their nets caused by dolphins that were caught in them.

In a petition to President Glafcos Clerides, the fishermen said the damage caused by the dolphins ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds (one pound equals two U.S. dollars) and called for state money to cover the costs.

The fishermen say they find their nets damaged on a daily basis, but are unable to take measures as dolphins are protected animals under Cyprus law.

While demanding compensation, the fishermen called on the government to take measures to keep the dolphins away from the island's fishing areas.

For its part, the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture has been trying to find a solution to save the nets and spare the protected dolphins.

Emilios Economou, an official at the Fisheries Department, told

Agriculture Committee at the House of Representatives Thursday that the problem was not unique to Cyprus, but affected the whole of the Mediterranean. He said large schools of dolphins, as many as 250 at a time, were detected at the Cyprus coast.

He noted that the authorities had made numerous efforts to help

fishermen, seeking advice from the U.S., Russia and Tunisia.

However, there has been little success so far, and one such effort involving the use of special equipment to scare off the dolphins actually ended up attracting them, he added.

The official said a new research program on this was now under way at the University of Cyprus.

But the fishermen insisted that they respected the fact that dolphins are a protected species, but they too wanted protection from the state.