Griekenland.net adopts dolphin in Ionian Sea of Greece

Last week the popular website Griekenland.net participated for the third time on De Vakantiebeurs (the biggest leisure & travel exhibition) in The Netherlands. People could get a KALA Magazine, join a competition for a holiday cheque and taste 12* Metaxa. For every tasting € 0,50 was donated to the Ionian Dolphin Project (IDP) run by the Italian NGO Tethys Research Institute. They aim to ensure the long-term viability of dolphins species living in coastal waters of the eastern Ionian Sea. Their research activities are carried out primarily in two study areas, which are remarkably diverse in terms of environmental features and threats posed by human activities, the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago and the Gulf of Ambracia. In total € 1.174,- has been collected with this fundraiser, which Tethys will dedicate to the acquisition of a new SLR digital camera. Griekenland.net will adopt the first dolphin newly identified by the IDP in 2018 which will be called “sagapo” (Greek for “I LOVE YOU”). 

In the Gulf of Ambracia bottlenose dolphins are the only cetacean species found, while common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and also occasionally striped dolphins inhabit the Inner Ionian Sea waters. The Ionian Dolphin Project started in 1991 in the Inner Ionian Sea and since 2001 operates also in the Gulf. Volunteers participating in the IDP citizen science programme do a great job to help protecting the dolphins in this particular side of Greece, where pressures derived from overfishing and habitat degradation pose major threats.

Griekenland.net for promotion of Greece

On the stand of Griekenland.net thousands of people were given tips for their holiday plans to Greece in 2018. Besides the question where they should go, visitors were also curious about combining different places and islands during one vacation. Griekenland.net promoted Greece as a 365 destination for the whole year round. In winter people can fly directly from Amsterdam to Athens and Thessaloniki and for the first time Transavia starts its flights to Heraklion on Crete already on the 18th of February.

Attached a picture of a dolphin made by Joan Gonzalvo from Tethys Research Institute.

More information about De Vakantiebeurs https://griekenland.net/vakanties/vakantiebeurs/