The Regional Secretary for the Environment and the Sea considered that “Azores provide an important contribution to the scientific studies on marine mammals” at an international level.
The information was provided by Álamo Meneses on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), whose opening session he presided over at the Sea Centre, located in the old Whaling Factory at Porto Pim, on Monday morning.
For the Regional Secretary, the University of the Azores and its Department of Oceanography and Fisheries (DOP) have carried out “a pioneer work in several areas of the study of marine mammals,” which reflects “the impact of the scientific contribution of the Azores at an international level.”
Hence, the presence of all these experts reinforces the scientific importance of the Region as we are before one of those areas in which the Azores “play a fundamental role in the international scientific context,” added the Secretary.
Álamo Meneses also stressed that with regard to the issue of marine mammals, the Azores play a “leading role” whether in terms of the variety and frequency with which cetaceans are sighted, whether in terms of scientific knowledge.
Regarding the meeting that takes place in Horta until Friday, counting upon the presence of experts from 15 countries, including several researchers from the DOP, the Regional Secretary stated that the meeting “is very important for the projection of the Azores from a scientific and technological point of view.”    
He also added that the Azores are nowadays one of the main observation areas in the Atlantic of marine mammals. This meeting will precisely focus on a theme “that is fundamental for our economic activity” and which “has a great growth potential in the area of tourism as well as in the preservation of the marine environment.”
The interaction between human activities in the marine environment, such as fishing and whale watching, and the preservation of marine mammals are the main theme of the annual meeting of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.