Press Release Marecamp no.5
Catania, April 9th 2024
Catania: everything is ready for the opening of the European Conference on Cetaceans.
Over 600 attendees from all over the world.
Just one day left before the big event, an international conference on the cetacean field and the challenges of achieving sustainable development of coastal areas, mitigating the effects of human actions on the marine ecosystem and supporting the conservation of marine mammals.
This is also a challenge for the Marecamp Association, the official organizer of the Conference, which in collaboration with the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (DSBGA) of the University of Catania is preparing to host more than 600 participants already registered for the 35th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society (ECS) on the theme Marine mammals and human activities: how to reach a sustainable development of coastal areas? This will take place from 10 to 12 April 2024 at “Le Ciminiere” Congress Center in Catania, preceded by two days of parallel themed workshops at the same DSBGA.
Speakers will include professors, researchers and students from the entire Euro-Mediterranean area and beyond – there are also participants from China, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, USA, Singapore, and India – who will present their scientific work on marine mammals. The opening speeches of each day will also be given by experts of international caliber such as Frances Gulland (President of the US Marine Mammal Commission), Bruno Cozzi (Founder of the Centro Studi Cetacei), and Philip Hammond (Professor of Ecology at the University of St Andrews).
The event is realised thanks to the voluntary work of the experts of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) coordinated by Marecamp, with the support of the ECS Council. Furthermore, the Conference enjoys the patronage of the Department of Mediterranean Fisheries (Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fisheries of the Sicilian Region), the Municipality and the Metropolitan City of Catania, and the University of Catania.
We invite you to spread the event as widely as possible, the opening of which is scheduled for tomorrow 10 April 2024, at 9:00 am, at the Le Ciminiere multifunctional exhibition center in Catania (viale Africa 12, 95129 Catania). The conference program can be downloaded here.
More information at:
https://www.marecamp.com/en/35ecs2024-catania
https://www.europeancetaceansociety.eu/35th-annual-conference-catania-sicily-italy
Statements released from the Organizers during the press conference to present the event:
"Marecamp has worked hard to realise this conference, from Catania's candidature to the whole organisational machine set in motion with the LOC, thanks to which today we can say that everything is ready to open the dances. We firmly believe in a possible human-cetacean coexistence, and that turning the spotlight on this topic in Catania is of fundamental importance and stimulus, both for the local community and for scientists working in the Mediterranean and other seas." - Dr. Clara Monaco, President of the Local Organising Committee and Scientific Committee of the 35th ECS Conference, and Marecamp Scientific Officer.
"Our department's classrooms will host workshops that students will be able to attend with a twofold advantage: enriching their knowledge of Cetaceans, a group of marine Mammals that is much loved but at the same time little known, especially regarding their biology and conservation status. The other advantage will be the opportunity to exchange ideas, impressions and knowledge with students from other European cities. The University of Catania is pushing hard on the internationalisation pedal and our students now have a large number of agreements with other European universities ready to welcome them under the Erasmus programme, just as the University of Catania is ready to welcome the European students. What better occasion then will the conference give us than to welcome European professors, scholars and students to our home?" - Prof. Venera Ferrito, ECS Contact Person for the University of Catania, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences.
"In almost 40 years of existence of the ECS, many countries have hosted its annual conferences, and only 3 of these have been hosted in Italy. Six years after the last one, held in La Spezia, today we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to organise the ECS Conference in Sicily for the first time, sure that Catania will give us a perfect welcome." - Dr Joan Gonzalvo, President of the European Cetacean Society (ECS).
Supporters of the event: Chelonia Limited - Wildlife Acoustic Monitoring; ACCOBAMS - Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area (ACCOBAMS); Communication Technology; co.l.mar. ; Sustainability journals, Marine Science and Engineering, Diversity, and Animals of the publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI); Hygiene and Food Laboratory (LIAA) of the Department of Medical, Surgical and Advanced Technological Sciences 'G. F. Ingrassia' of the University of Catania; NetSense; and CityMap Sicilia.
