“There they are,” murmurs Fulvio Fossa, smiling as he points to a herd of dolphins off Cinque Terre in northwestern Italy. Two or three times a week, come wind or rain, Mr Fossa heads out in his rubber dinghy in search of his marine friends, cataloguing them, photographing them and observing them for nearby Genoa’s aquarium, among the most popular in Europe. Whipping out his camera, Mr Fossa begins taking snaps of the more than a dozen bottlenose dolphins, telling AFP they are a herd of mothers with their young. One of the adults approaches the vessel for a better look at the noisy intruders. “Females are very protective. When a boat approaches, they shield their offspring,” said Mr Fossa, a 35-year-old University of Genoa graduate with sun-bleached blond hair.

Le Roux, G. (2010, August 27-28). Tracking dolphins in the Gulf of Genoa. BusinessWorld, p. S3/8.