The program that this Spanish national park is developing focuses in the study and protection of the cetaceans that live near the coast of Galicia in the north of Spain. The “Illas Atlánticas” National Park has got this project under way in collaboration with the “Coordinadora para el Estudio de Mamíferos Marinos – CEMMA (Coordinating Committee for Marine Mammals Research). To achieve the project’s goals, a network of hydrophones will be installed in the waters of the Cíes Islands, and underwater cameras will record the movement of the main cetacean species that live in the waters near the “rías” (long, narrow, tidal inlets).

Hydrophones have been used by CEMMA since 2005 for the study of the movement and behavior of the marine mammals through the listening of the sounds they emit. The park heard about this technology and for the last five months has been looking for the perfect locations to install these hydrophones in the waters surrounding the islands to cover the biggest possible area (each hydrophone covers an area of 500 meters) and to have an easy access to them.

These devices have a battery that lasts three months, but due to weather and temperature conditions, the battery will be replaced each month when data is collected. Currently, the hydrophones are been installed in the buoys located in Cíes, Ons and Sálvora and also in Cortegada where they will be operating for at least 12 months.

Each cetacean species (whales, dolphins) emit different sounds and these sounds vary according to the message these marine mammals want to transmit. The study of these sounds will allow knowing the exact number of family groups in these waters, their distribution, movements and migratory routes.

Apart from that, the sounds’ recording will allow the research of their behavior patterns through the study of their language as was explained by Luz Santos, coordinator of CEMMA. “To unveil the mystery of the language of one of the most intelligent animals in the world is the goal of any marine biologist”, she said.

Different dolphin species can be found in the “Riás Baixas” region, but the bottle