Scientists have begun a new monitoring phase for marine wildlife along the coast of Amapá and northern Marajó Island in Pará, according to reporting by regional news outlet G1. Field expeditions started on September 21, roughly 130 kilometers from Poço Morpho, an offshore drilling prospect near the Amazon River mouth where a fresh petroleum discovery was announced in early September. The field operation fulfills an environmental licensing mandate set by federal environment agency Ibama for seismic surveys in the sensitive equatorial margin.
The Marine Tetrapod Characterization and Monitoring Project brings together teams from the Amapá Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (Iepa) and the Federal Institute of Amapá (Ifap), under coordination by Pará based nonprofit Instituto Bicho d'Água. Biologists and veterinarians are evaluating whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and marine birds. Their primary scientific focus centers on acoustic waves emitted during seismic profiling, a technique oil companies use to map subsea geology. Because marine mammals rely on echolocation and acoustic cues to navigate, researchers are testing whether exploration pulses displace animals or trigger strandings.
Field patrols and baseline records
Every 15 days, field crews survey the shoreline of Goiabal beach in the municipality of Calçoene to look for stranded animals. The team conducts necropsies and gathers tissue samples to test animal health. The program also examines freshwater river dolphins that venture near estuaries, analyzing specimens for heavy metal contamination such as mercury. Alongside coastal patrols, scientists hold workshops with artisanal fishers and local residents, distributing emergency phone numbers so coastal settlements can report grounded mammals immediately.
Project coordinator Cláudia Funi explained that regulatory requirements tied to petroleum exploration provide critical funding for northern marine biology, an area historically overlooked by federal science budgets. Speaking to G1, Funi pointed out the role of mandatory industry offsets:
A large share of marine and coastal studies in the country exists because of resources of this nature. This is very important for science to learn more about the diversity of fauna in the region.
Between July 2024 and April 2026, an earlier phase of the monitoring program documented unprecedented marine encounters in the Amazon basin. Researchers examined a 14-meter Bryde's whale carcass on Viçosa Island in Pará, as well as the first recorded pygmy sperm whale stranding on the Amazon coast, a 3-meter specimen on Goiabalinho beach in Amapá. As Brazil balances international climate commitments against the push to tap new fossil reserves, systematic field tracking provides the empirical baseline needed to assess environmental risks along the equatorial shelf.