Endangered whales and dolphins live year-round in an area of the Mediterranean earmarked for oil and gas exploration, new research shows.
Various cetacean species are known to inhabit the Hellenic Trench off Greece in the summer, but until now little has been known about their winter whereabouts.
This lack of information has been used to justify seismic surveys (which may harm whales and dolphins) in winter.
The new study found that at least four species – including the regionally endangered sperm whale – live in the deep waters of the Hellenic Trench in both summer and winter.
Read more at: University of Exeter
Risso's dolphins. (Photo Credit: Leonidas Karantzas/Greenpeace)