Why donate?
Nova Atlantis is completely run by volunteers. We have been in the field for 24 consecutive years now. That makes this an exceptionally long-run fieldwork research project, and the longest for this species. Our findings improve understanding of marine wildlife around the Azores, and, through our contacts with local authorities, contribute to better conservation management.
See below for some of the activities that require funding!
ANBI Status
Nova Atlantis has been recognised by the Dutch fiscal authorities as a Public Benefit Institution (in Dutch: Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling, or ANBI). As a result, donations made to Nova Atlantis are deductible for tax purposes for anyone who pays income tax in the Netherlands.
If you wish to help us running the project, please make your donation by clicking the button below:
If you don’t have a bank account in the Single European Payment Area, you can make a donation by wire transfer (in Euro) to
Stichting Nova Atlantis, IBAN: NL63 BUNQ 2025 4379 86, BIC code: BUNQNL2A.
Acoustic research
The use of a drone greatly helped to gain new insights into the functioning of stable male pods: how do they stay friends if they also compete for access to females? Meanwhile we have extended our research with acoustics: by recording the sounds that Risso's dolphins make we expect to get an even better understanding of what goes on in their social relations. In order to assign sounds to individuals, we use an array with four hydrophones, attached to our research vessel. The differences of the times of arrival of sounds in each of the hydrophones are used to identify the source of the sound. Combining this with drone video and Photo-ID recorded at the same time, we can put names of individuals to these sources (see the picture below). For this purpose, we put the old 6.7 m research vessel 'Moleiro' back into use again in 2022. This required investments in a hydrophone array, a new engine and other repairs - total € 25,000.
A: Photo-identification | B: Drone video | C: Hydrophone array with 4 hydrophones | D: written records
Running costs
Apart from the investments described above, Nova Atlantis has running project costs (such as fuel, maintenance of research vessels and equipment, internet access), which also need to be funded.
To give you an idea:
€ 25 funds the fuel for a 2 hour trip with our research vessel
€ 50 funds the maintenance of one research vessel for 1 month
€ 100 funds the cost for storing the research vessel for 1 month during winter