Marine survey spots rare bird and thriving dolphins

Carried out by Israel Nature and Parks Authority, two-day survey along Mediterranean coast is first of its kind since 2022

In the first professional survey of marine mammals and birds to be carried out by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority since 2022, experts counted 18 common bottlenose dolphins, one brown booby, which is rarely seen in the region, and plenty of seabirds and migratory birds, according to a report issued Tuesday.

They even caught sight of a pair of loggerhead turtles mating. Turtle egg hatching season on Israel’s beaches starts this month and lasts until  August.

The group included INPA staff, birders from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and researchers from Haifa University in northern Israel and the Delphis Association for Marine Mammals.

It spent Sunday and Monday at sea, sailing from the north to the south of the roughly 200-kilometer (125-mile) stretch of Mediterranean coast, and up to eight miles away from the coast.

The dolphins were seen in two pods in central Israeli waters and accompanied the three research boats.

Swimming along with one of the pods was Suki, a dolphin frequently seen off the Israeli coast, who is thought to have eight offspring. Her fifth, Shlomi, was also spotted during the survey.

Dolphins are top predators in the Mediterranean, and their health reflects the ecosystem’s health, including the availability of food to support pods of this size.

The survey was carried out within the framework of the Barcelona Convention for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea and supplements ongoing marine research in Israel.