The Tethys Research Institute (official name: Istituto Tethys ONLUS) is a non-profit research organisation founded in 1986 to support marine conservation through science and public awareness and by participating in the international conservation process. Tethys' activities are mainly carried out in the Mediterranean Sea, although research programmes have been conducted also in the Black Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Red Sea and Antarctica. The results of these activities have been presented in scientific publications as well as in meetings, workshops and conferences. Mission statement Tethys’ mission is the conservation of the marine environment and its biodiversity, by supporting national and international marine conservation policies and processes with robust scientific knowledge, and by developing, promoting and implementing public awareness and education activities. History The Tethys Research Institute was founded in Milan, Italy, on 31st January 1986 by marine ecologist Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara and Egidio Gavazzi, at the time the publisher of the italian magazine AQVA. The organisation's name was inspired by a figure of Greek mythology, the sea goddess Tethys, daughter of Uranus and Gaia and wife of Oceanus. The Mediterranean Sea is the modern remnant of the prehistoric Tethys Ocean. Since 1995 the Institute's headquarters have been established in the premises of the Civic Aquarium of Milan, on the basis of an agreement with the City Council. Since its foundation, Tethys has promoted research activities on marine mammals, such as cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and the endangered Mediterranean monk seal, although investigations have also extended to devil rays and sea turtles. Over more than three decades of work, Tethys has generated one of the largest datasets on Mediterranean cetaceans. Tethys shares its data with the scientific community and policy makers through several open access platforms such as OBIS, OBIS-SEAMAP, GBIF, EMODNET, and INTERCET. Research programmes and techniques Research methods include distance sampling surveys (both from aircraft, drones and vessels) capture-recapture techniques based on long-term photo-identification to estimate population abundance; habitat and distribution time-series studies inclusive of the collection of remotely sensed environmental covariates, bioacoustics, behavioural sampling, remote biopsy sampling for genetic and toxicological analyses, passive tracking techniques, as well as radio and satellite telemetry. Since 1987 Tethys has been carrying out cetacean surveys in the waters surrounding Italy and adjacent countries. Early boat-based surveys generated the first estimate of relative abundance in the central Mediterranean Sea highlighting the great importance of the Ligurian Sea for whales