” This project can be focused in two main goals or research questions. The first one intends to create a methodology to be used later in other similar areas (remote islands or archipelagos). Secondly this study also wants to provide information about the distribution of cetaceans in the Azores.

Here I resume the main objectives of the research:

• Evaluate model performance using opportunistic and non-opportunistic marine mammal sighting data from the same study area
• Determine the influence of different eco-geographical variables in cetaceans distribution
• Produce habitat suitability maps for cetaceans off the Azores Archipelago
• Provide reliable models with useful conservation and management implications
• Produce a low-cost methodology to study cetaceans in remote or poorly studied areas.
• Using the maps produced suggest recommendations for important areas of conservation for cetaceans in the Azores.”