Monaco Deepens Pelagos Whale Research and Protection for Marine Tourism

To date, Monaco has also been carrying out scientific conservation of the Pelagos Sanctuary-an area designated in France, Italy and Monaco to cover marine animals and their habitat. The sanctuary, stretching 87,500 km and having a coastline length of 2022 km, was established following the Pelagos Agreement, first introduced to a government in 1999 and implemented in 2002; the objectives being to protect marine species and habitats and aid human difficulties

A High-Seas Sanctuary for Eight Cetacean Species

The Pelagos Sanctuary regularly supports eight marine mammal species, with the area particularly important for several whale and dolphin populations. Fin whales and striped dolphins are among the species regularly recorded, while sperm whales also occur in the sanctuary.

The ecological importance of the sanctuary comes from its combination of coastal and pelagic waters. The protected area encompasses the Ligurian Sea, portions of the Gulf of Lion and northern Tyrrhenian waters, as well as surrounding waters associated with Corsica and northern Sardinia.

This broad geography means whale conservation cannot be separated from maritime activity.

Commercial shipping, ferries, recreational boating and seasonal tourism all operate within or around the sanctuary. Managing interactions between vessels and cetaceans has therefore become an important part of the region’s conservation strategy.

Monaco Sits at the Centre of Regional Cooperation

The Principality’s position within the sanctuary gives it an institutional role that extends beyond its small territorial waters.

At the tenth Meeting of the Parties to the Pelagos Agreement, held in Monaco in November 2025, France, Italy and Monaco approved the final actions of the 2025–26 programme and continued preparations for the next management cycle covering 2028–2033.

The meeting also transferred the presidency of the Pelagos Agreement to Monaco for the 2026–2027 biennium.

Scientific cooperation has continued during 2026. In June, the Pelagos Scientific and Technical Committee held its 18th meeting in Toulon, bringing together representatives of all three parties, scientists and conservation partners. The committee’s recommendations help inform management and conservation decisions across the sanctuary.

This framework gives Monaco an active role in coordinating scientific knowledge and conservation measures across national boundaries.

Collision Risk Becomes a Major Focus

One of the most significant developments affecting whale protection is the creation of a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area in the northwestern Mediterranean.

The International Maritime Organisation approved the designation in July 2023 following work involving France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. The designated area encompasses the entire Pelagos Sanctuary and the Spanish Cetacean Corridor.

The designation recognises the combination of heavy maritime traffic and important cetacean habitat.

Among the recommendations are maintaining appropriate distances from marine mammals, voluntarily reducing vessel speed when whales or dolphins are nearby and reporting cetacean locations and possible collision events to relevant coastal authorities.

Speed reduction is also recognised as a measure that can lower emissions and air pollutants from maritime traffic.

For whale-watching operators, these measures provide a wider conservation framework within which wildlife observation can take place.

Responsible Whale Watching From Port Hercule

Monaco’s Port Hercule provides a departure point for excursions into Pelagos waters. The Principality’s tourism authority lists whale- and dolphin-watching trips departing from the port, with operators taking visitors into the sanctuary to search for cetaceans.

The emphasis on responsible observation is increasingly important because the same waters used for tourism are also used by marine mammals for feeding, movement and social behaviour.

Rather than treating wildlife encounters simply as sightseeing opportunities, research-led excursions can contribute to knowledge through observation, photography and species identification.

Photo-identification has already been an important technique in Pelagos research. Scientific projects in the sanctuary have used photographs to identify individual dolphins and build information about their movements, ecology and population dynamics.

This creates an opportunity for carefully managed tourism to complement scientific monitoring when observations are collected systematically and shared with research programmes.

Hydrophones and Acoustic Research

Visual observation is only one part of marine mammal research.

Acoustic monitoring can detect cetaceans beyond the range of human observers and help scientists understand how animals use busy Mediterranean waters. Such approaches are particularly relevant for species that spend substantial periods underwater, including sperm whales.

The wider Pelagos research programme addresses threats such as underwater noise, pollution and vessel interactions. The sanctuary’s scientific work is therefore moving beyond simply recording where whales are seen to understanding the environmental pressures affecting them.

For marine tourism, that creates a different model of wildlife experience in which visitors can encounter the research process as well as the animals themselves.

A Different Model for Monaco’s Marine Tourism

Monaco’s relationship with Pelagos extends beyond tourism.

In May 2026, the Pelagos Agreement participated in the Yacht Club de Monaco’s Fête de la Mer, using the event to promote awareness of cetacean conservation and responsible behaviour at sea. The initiative highlighted the importance of reducing human impacts on marine mammals and encouraged maritime users to adopt more sustainable practices.

The approach reflects the wider purpose of the sanctuary: conservation depends on cooperation among governments, scientists, maritime operators and the public.

For visitors departing Monaco, whale watching can therefore be connected to a much larger conservation system extending across international waters.

Monaco Connects Tourism With Open-Sea Science

The position of Monaco within the conservation of the Mediterranean Sea is unique, considering the Pelagos Sanctuary. Monaco offers access to waters of an international sanctuary of 87,500 km 2 (from Port Hercule), and simultaneously acts in the decision-making process, coordinated by science and public education regarding this very protected environment. With Monaco holding the 2026-2027 presidency of the Pelagos Agreement, there is also the task of managing the sanctuary’s next phase, which is undertaken with two other countries. As efforts to prevent collisions, monitoring, responsible observation and building cross-border partnerships increasingly merge, Monaco works on taking whale tourism away from “seeing” whales towards a science-based approach on learning about and managing pelagic species in the Mediterranean Sea.