mission effectuée On this mission we will be doing transects to study phytoplankton in order to assess its tremendous importance to marine biodiversity. It can feed an abundance of fish, but it can also be responsible for dangerous jellyfish proliferation. Scientific partner: STARESO (Oceanographic Institute)
Position : 42'34'52' N - 08'45'30' E 
Jean-Henri Hecq sums up the plankton mission. An admirable instance of collaboration on the scientific-logistical front with a human touch worth repeating.
The aim of this mission is to study the distribution of plankton and marine mammals in relation with the movement of water masses. The sea is not homogenous and it has different water masses. Between these masses are fronts, where water from the deeper sea will raise and bring nutrients favourable for plankton and mammals. There was an international study on this phenomenon in the 80s, but it was stopped due to lack of funds. Thanks to Fleur-de-Passion and Antinea, it has resumed. This is nearly the end of the mission, the only of its kind in the western Mediterranean. We hope to continue the study, at different seasons, and work on jellyfish, fish migrations, and the Globecephalla dolphin, now reaching Corsica and more Northern areas.
