With the summer season in full swing, information sessions on the Life + Project Migrate is fast progressing. Through this project, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) and KAI as partners in this project, with the collaboration of Bank of Valletta, held training sessions for the volunteers enrolled in this project.

The main objective of the training programme is to provide skills to sea-users and people interested on how to recognise the different species of cetaceans and turtles that they may encounter and what kind of data to gather. The focus of the LIFE + Migrate Project is the protection and conservation of the bottlenose dolphin and the loggerhead turtle.

By knowing the population status of these species, which data will be gathered from this project and other available data, it will be possible to further conserve such species through targeted efforts. Another aim of the project is to identify areas crucial for these species like feeding and/or important migratory routes, which, if identified around the Maltese Islands, will be protected.

Through this project, which has been ongoing since 2012, participants are trained to identify the different species whilst creating awareness about the importance of these flagship species of the Mediterranean Sea. Anyone out at sea with a good eye and enthusiasm to contribute to such data gathering can play an important role in this initiative by sending an email to MEPA with information about the sightings of such marine species.

BOV’s Head Office premises has once again housed training sessions in relation to this project. For Bank of Valletta, supporting the Life + Project Migrate makes perfect sense and marries perfectly with its environmental strategy and its corporate responsibilities.

Anyone interested in attending information sessions or wishing to be part of this research project by participating in the volunteers’ activity is kindly requested to send an email to [email protected] or visit the lifeprojectmigrate.com website on http://www.mepa.org.mt/lifemigrate. You too can help in making this project a success.