Research
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Demographic monitoring
A demographic monitoring of the bottlenose dolphin community inhabiting Northern Rangiroa Atoll.
Behavioural monitoring
The dolphins' behavioral changes and risks associated with their interactions with scuba diving tourism. To achieve this, we focus on each of the dolphins’ history and personality.
The impact of tourism
Whale and dolphin watching activities promising unique encounters with free-ranging cetaceans are increasing dramatically worldwide. The great sociability and pseudo smile of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops spp., which embody the human view of dolphins, indeed favour a perception of these animals closer to myth and romanticism than reality.
However, numerous studies conducted over the past 40 years in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, and Europe show that these activities can have deleterious effects on cetaceans and may be risky for their admirers. In French Polynesia, recreational and commercial whale and dolphin watching has the potential to disturb and sometimes harm such marine mammals as the humpback whale, common bottlenose dolphin, and spinner dolphin.