Françoise Breton to Give Conference on Whales in the Mediterranean at Espace Gibert

Anthropologist, geographer, and environmentalist, Françoise Breton is a scientific fieldwoman who has traversed the globe, its seas, and its oceans. Now based in Fontjoncouse, she will be the guest at Espace Gibert on Friday, March 27.

Françoise Breton, professor emeritus of the Department of Geography at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, founder and honorary director of the Arctic Research Center, will give a conference on the theme “Discovering the Giants of the Mediterranean: These Whales and Their Extraordinary Lives” on Friday, March 27 at 6:30 pm at Espace Gibert.

In her youth, Françoise Breton ventured to Lapland, where she discovered the indigenous Sami people, and then to Mexico to meet the indigenous people of Chiapas. These experiences guided her towards anthropology studies in Nanterre, leading to a doctorate partly conducted in the creation of a natural park in Catalonia, then in Louisiana with the Cajun people, and the University of Harvard and Boston.

In 1980, shortly after being promoted to a doctorate in anthropology, she joined the Department of Environment and Natural Parks in Barcelona and initiated the Sea Research Center in Sitges (Catalonia). She conducted research on creating artificial reefs to preserve the posidonia meadows threatened by fishing, where she encountered her first fin whales in the Mediterranean.

20 Years of Whale Studies

In 1992, after joining the Autonomous University of Barcelona, she began studying the relationships between these marine mammals and humans, in collaboration with several research centers in the Arctic and representatives of the peoples of the Far North.

This work led her to establish the research center “Arctic” within the university, to bridge the Arctic and the Mediterranean: “We live on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, but do we know the giants that populate and traverse it?” she questions.

For about twenty years, with scientists, associations, especially Edmaktub, of which she is a member and ambassador, as well as with artisanal fishermen, she studied the cetaceans in the Mediterranean and during migrations: “It is extremely difficult to study whales. Thanks to the association Edmaktub, its boat, its team, volunteers who sail 24 hours a day, from February to November, we were able to follow them.”

Her research has resulted in numerous unique drone videos, with the underlying question of “how to protect the Mediterranean and its creatures?” faced with the dangers of the sapiens’ way of life.