First successful immersion of a sperm whale carcass off Corse
From July 18 to 20, an operation took place off Calvi, in the Sanctuaire Pelagos, with the first successful implementation of the Immercet protocol.
This system allows the immersion of large cetacean carcasses, which pose a threat to navigation. An ecological alternative to traditional methods, which opens up new scientific perspectives. The Sanctuaire Pelagos, resulting from an international agreement concluded in 1999 between France, Italie and the Principauté de Monaco which entered into force in 2002, aims to protect the marine mammals of the Méditerranée and their habitats from human pressures. When large marine mammals die in the Méditerranée, mainly fin whales and sperm whales, their drifting carcasses can represent a significant danger to maritime traffic. Until now, two methods were used to manage them: rendering, which is often long and complex to implement and can generate health risks, or treatment by explosive device offshore which can be a source of acoustic disturbance for underwater fauna. In order to propose a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative, the Immercet system was designed in 2016, based on a methodology developed in Hawaii, by the Groupement d'intérêt scientifique pour les mammifères marins de Méditerranée (GIS3M, today MIRACETI), in collaboration with the Parc national de Port-Cros, as part of its French coordination mission for the Sanctuaire Pelagos, and the Préfecture maritime de la Méditerranée. This method consists of towing large cetacean carcasses to deep-sea areas, where they are then ballasted and immersed. It thus prevents them from washing up on the coasts, while restoring an oasis of life to seabed communities that are still poorly understood. •