Morigenos has new Masters of Research

Tilen Genov and Tina Centrih from Morigenos have recently successfully completed their Master of Research degrees at the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom. They both graduated with Distinction and received prizes for their thesis presentations. Tilen was awarded a title Master of Research in Marine Mammal Science, while Tina was awarded a title Master of Research in Environmental Biology. Tilen's course was held within the Sea Mammal Research Unit, one of world's leading centres in marine mammal research. 

University of St Andrews, Scotland's first university and the third oldest in English-speaking world, is celebrating it's 600th anniversary in 2013. Due to its teaching and research quality, it is rated as the top Scottish university and one of top universities in the UK. It also has a worldwide reputation and therefore hosts students from all over the world. In its publication “Science sees further”, the Royal Society identified research at University of St Andrews as among the most likely to shape science in the 21st century. The Morigenos team is very proud and congratulates Tina and Tilen for their achievements.

Novi magistri v društvu Morigenos

Tilen Genov in Tina Centrih iz društva Morigenos sta nedavno uspešno zaključila magistrski študij na Univerzi St Andrews v Veliki Britaniji. Oba sta zahtevni študij opravila z odliko, prejela pa sta tudi nagradi za najboljše predstavitve svojih magistrskih nalog. Tilen je opravljal magisterij s področja morskih sesalcev in prejel naziv magister znanosti o morskih sesalcih (Master of Research in Marine Mammal Science). Tina je opravljala magisterij s področja okoljske biologije in prejela naziv magistrica okoljske biologije (Master of Research in Environmental Biology). Tilen je svoj magisterij opravljal v sklopu Enote za raziskovanje morskih sesalcev (Sea Mammal Research Unit), ki je eden izmed vodilnih centrov na področju raziskovanja morskih sesalcev na svetu. 

Univerza St Andrews, sicer prva škotska in tretja najstarejša univerza v angleško govorečem svetu, v letu 2013 obeležuje svojo 600. obletnico. Univerzo St Andrews priznavajo kot najuglednejšo univerzo na Škotskem, saj se ponaša z visoko kakovostjo poučevanja in raziskav, sodi pa tudi med najboljše univerze v Veliki Britaniji. Velik ugled uživa tudi v svetovnem merilu, zato tja prihajajo študentje iz vsega sveta. Britansko kraljevo združenje The Royal Society je v svoji publikaciji "Science Sees Further" raziskovalno dejavnost na Univerzi St Andrews opredelilo kot ključno pri oblikovanju znanosti 21. stoletja. Za doseženi uspeh naših članov smo v društvu Morigenos zelo ponosni in jima iskreno čestitamo.

Young female dolphin caught in fishing net

We are very sad to report that a dolphin was caught in a fishing net off the town of Izola, Slovenia, earlier today. A young female got entangled in a fishing net, likely due to inexperience while foraging or playing around it. Unfortunately she died before fishermen came to collect their nets, so they could not help her. We carried out an initial external examination of the dolphin, more will be known after the autopsy. Interactions between dolphins and fisheries are common worldwide. They are often negative for both parties involved. Dolphins may take caught fish from the net and damage the nets, but they can also get entangled and drown. It is therefore important to seek solutions together with the fishermen. In some areas of the world interactions are also positive, where fishermen and dolphins work together to catch fish. Many fishermen are well aware that dolphins are an important part of a healthy ecosystem. Morigenos cooperates closely with several Slovenian fishermen, which often report their dolphin sightings to us. We are very glad that they notified us about the entangled dolphin, rather than discarding it, and thus contributed important information. Even such sad events can provide information that will hopefully enable such cases to be avoided in the future and lead to an improved conservation of dolphins in the long term.

Mlada delfinka ujeta v ribiško mrežo

Danes dopoldne se je pred Izolo v ribiško mrežo ujel delfin, kar nas je zelo razžalostilo. Mlada samička se je verjetno zaradi neizkušenosti zapletla, ko je pri mreži iskala ribe ali se igrala. Na žalost je poginila še preden so ribiči prišli po mreže, zato ji niso mogli več pomagati. Opravili smo prvi zunanji pregled delfina, več informacij pa bo znanih po obdukciji. Interakcije med ribiči in delfini so pogoste marsikje po svetu. Večkrat so negativne tako za eno kot za drugo stran. Delfini včasih plenijo ribe iz mreže in lahko pri tem mreže poškodujejo, lahko pa se tudi zapletejo in poginejo. Zato je pomembno, da rešitve iščemo skupaj. Ponekod so interakcije tudi pozitivne, saj ribiči in delfini celo sodelujejo pri ribolovu. Mnogi ribiči se zavedajo, da so delfini pomemben del zdravega ekosistema. Z mnogimi slovenskimi ribiči tesno sodelujemo, saj nas večkrat pokličejo in obvestijo, ko opazijo delfine na morju. Veseli smo, da so nas ribiči o ujetem delfinu obvestili, namesto da bi ga zavrgli, saj s tem prispevajo pomembne informacije. Kljub nesrečnemu dogodku skušamo v takšnih primerih pridobiti čim več informacij, ki lahko dolgoročno izboljšajo varstvo delfinov in nam morebiti pomagajo, da se tovrstnim primerom v prihodnosti izognemo.

Spoznajte delfine slovenskega morja

Morigenos ob podpori Študentske organizacije Univerze v Ljubljani, v okviru projekta Spoznavanje ekologije velike pliskavke pripravlja terenski vikend, na katerem boste preko zanimivih predavanj in praktičnega dela spoznali raziskovanje in varstvo delfinov v slovenskem morju. Terenski vikend je namenjen študentom, ki bi radi izkusili raziskovalno delo s področja morskih sesalcev in jih z nekaj sreče v naravi tudi videli. 

Pridružite se nam lahko od 8.3. do 10.3.2013 ali od 22.3. do 24.3.2013. 

Prijave zbiramo do 25.2.2013 na naslovu pr@morigenos.org, kjer boste prejeli več informacij o samem poteku in programu. 

Uvodno predavanje z naslovom Delfini v slovenskem morju bo 20.2.2013 ob 17:00 uri na Biotehniški fakulteti, Oddelek za biologijo, v predavalnici B1. Vljudno vabljeni vsi, ki želite izvedeti zanimivosti o delfinih v slovenskem morju.

Another rescued Mediterranean Shag

In the early afternoon today we received a call, that a Mediterranean Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii) has been caught in the fishing net by Pacug. Ana Hace from Morigenos and Gorazd Lazar, our long time colleague and friend from Aquarium Piran and a local fisherman, responded to the call. The shag’s wing and legs were badly entangled. After some twisting around it also entangled its head a bit. Luckily, it was rescued without injuries. We hope it’ll stay away from the nets after this experience.       

Še en rešen sredozemski vranjek

Danes smo v zgodnjih popoldanskih urah prejeli klic, da se je pri Pacugu v ribiško mrežo zapletel sredozemski vranjek (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii). Klicu sta se odzvala Ana Hace iz društva Morigenos in Gorazd Lazar, naš dolgoletni sodelavec in prijatelj iz Akvarija Piran ter piranski ribič. Vranjek je imel močno zapleteno krilo in noge, med opletanjem si je nekoliko zapletel še glavo. Na srečo je bil rešen brez poškodb. Upamo, da se bo po tej izkušnji mrežam bolj ogibal. 

This year's first dolphin encounter

We took advantage of nice January days to do the first fieldwork of the year. Yesterday, after spotting Mediterranean shags, shearwaters and bluefin tunas, we encountered a group of 30 dolphins, not far from Piran. The encounter was a very special one, because we quickly recognised several well known fins. Bananko, Paolo and Lovrenc were the first dolphins to be recognised. Soon after, we spotted other »old friends«. There were Daphne, Emanuela, Amanita, Foki, Kai, Deinon and Sergio, which we see every year, as well as Hidro and Tarja, which we haven't seen since 2008. Apart from these familiar fins, we also saw some new ones. There were several calves in the group, and they were particularly playful. They enjoyed bowriding in front of our boat and jumping around it. They continuously vocalised while doing that, and we could hear their whistles through the boat hull. This year, Emanuela's calf will be three and Daphne's calf will be two years old, while Tarja introduced her new baby. We were glad to see that all the calves appeared healthy, which is very important for the population.

We also headed out to sea today and found another group containing eight adult dolphins. They were busy foraging, so they did not show much interest in us. To avoid unnecessary disturbance, we left the group after collecting the most important data. Apart from dolphins, we had a magnificent view of the beautiful Julian Alps of Slovenia in the background. The year started off really well and we hope to see much more of our friends this year.

Letošnje prvo srečanje z delfini

Lepe januarske dni smo izkoristili za prvo terensko delo v novem letu. Po sredozemskih vranjekih, viharnikih in modroplavutih tunah smo včeraj v poznih popoldanskih urah, nedaleč od Pirana, srečali skupino tridesetih delfinov. Srečanje je bilo prav posebno, saj smo hitro prepoznali mnoge dobro znane plavuti. Bananko, Paolo in Lovrenc so bili prvi delfini, ki smo jih prepoznali. Kmalu zatem smo zagledali še ostale »stare prijatelje«. Tam so bili Daphne, Emanuela, Amanita, Foki, Kai, Deinon in Sergio, ki jih srečujemo vsako leto, pa tudi Hidro in Tarja, ki ju nismo videli že od leta 2008. Poleg starih znancev smo opazili tudi nekaj novih plavuti. V skupini je bilo več mladičev, ki so bili še posebej razigrani. Razposajeno so »surfali« pred našim premcem in skakali okoli čolna. Pri tem so se neprestano oglašali, njihove žvižge pa smo lahko slišali skozi dno čolna. Emanuelin mladič bo letos dopolnil tri leta, Daphnin dve leti, Tarja pa nam je predstavila svojega novega mladiča. Veseli smo, da so vsi mladiči videti zdravi, saj je to za populacijo zelo pomembno.

Tudi danes smo se odpravili na teren in našli še eno skupino, v kateri je bilo osem odraslih delfinov. Le-ti so bili zaposleni z iskanjem plena ter hranjenjem, zato jih naša družba ni prav posebej zanimala. Da jih ne bi po nepotrebnem vznemirjali, smo delfine po tem, ko smo zbrali vse podatke, pustili pri miru. Poleg delfinov smo imeli danes v ozadju tudi pogled na čudovite Julijske Alpe. Leto se je torej začelo zelo dobro in upamo, da bomo naše prijatelje letos še veliko videvali.