Shelltone Whale Project

Since 1981, my passion for cetaceans and my research into interspecies communication with whales have led me to spend a large part of my life alongside them.

Over the decades, I have not only observed whales. I have also witnessed the evolution of our relationship with them.

I remember a time when whale watching was a relatively confidential activity, practiced by a small community of enthusiasts, naturalists, and scientists. I then watched it grow into a global industry, allowing millions of people to discover cetaceans in their natural environment.

This evolution represented remarkable progress. But it also brought new challenges.

Over the years, I have seen many organizations contribute to the protection of cetaceans by establishing increasingly precise approach guidelines and regulations. Their work is essential and has played an important role in improving the protection of whale and dolphin populations around the world.

But my own experience gradually led me toward a different reflection.

Respect does not begin where a rule requires it.

It begins in the intention that guides our encounter with the animal.

A minimum approach distance can be respected without genuine respect. Conversely, some of the most respectful decisions are not written into any regulation.

They are a matter of choice.

The choice to value the quality of the encounter over its proximity.

The choice to accept that sometimes the right decision is not to approach.

The choice to let the animal decide.

Throughout my research and travels, I have also met women and men who share this vision. Dedicated operators guided by their respect for cetaceans rather than by the pursuit of increasingly spectacular encounters.

Professionals who demonstrate every day that it is possible to offer extraordinary experiences with whales without compromising their well-being.

It was to bring these operators into the spotlight that I created the Shelltone Whale Project.

Because not all encounters are created equal.

And because respect deserves to be chosen.

La relève est assurée ! Magnifiques sorties dés cet été à Cadaqués avec un passionné très respectueux des protocoles d'approches définis par le Shelltone Whale Project. Vous pouvez vous inscrire via la site Shelltone pour ces magnifiques sorties sur le canyon du cap de Creus : https://www.shelltonewhaleproject.org/observer-dauphins.../
La team Shelltone quand à elle va désormais se focaliser sur ses sorties scientifiques, l'étude et perfectionnement des approches respectueuses des cétacés, également depuis Cadaqués.
Bonnes sorties à tous et bonne chance à Marea Azul.🐬

NOT DONATIONS.
NOT MERCHANDISE.
NOT MEMBERSHIPS.
RESPECT.

Respectful whale watching : https://www.shelltonewhaleproject.org/en/

🐋 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘆?

We’ve selected the most responsible whale-watching operators worldwide, personally vetted and certified by our team ✅

🍁 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗮𝘆:
🇨🇦 Les Escoumins, Québec
🇨🇦 Vancouver Island, Canada
🇨🇦 Trinity, Newfoundland

📍𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻:
🇫🇷 Nice · Bayonne, France
🏝️ Guadeloupe, French Caribbean
🇮🇪 Di**le, Ireland
🇪🇸 Tenerife · Lanzarote · La Gomera, Spain
🇵🇹 Azores · Lagos · Lisbon · Madeira, Portugal
🇬🇧 Dundee, Scotland
🇺🇸 California, USA (4 spots available)
🇦🇷 Valdés Peninsula, Argentina

Choose your destination. Choose respect.
Book here 👉 shelltonewhaleproject.org

We are very happy to announce the listing of a new responsible cetacean watching operator in Lisbon, Portugal 🐬

A great opportunity to experience the ocean in a different way, through a mindful and respectful approach to marine life 🌊

✅ Open all year round and bookings are available starting today. Bem-vindo a bordo !

𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 – 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩

Dolphin Watching in Lisbon(Portugal) | Shelltone Whale Project Embark in Lisbon with Shelltone Whale Project to observe dolphins in a respectful and ethical environment.

To understand the message of whales, you have to go beneath the surface and meet them there. That’s where it happens — in the exchange of notes, of music, of sound. In that shared space, something opens. That’s where they truly reveal what lives inside their song.

Playing music to whales from a boat misses the point. There is no real contact, no physical presence, no shared field.

Trying to decode their language from above — lowering a hydrophone, analyzing signals on a screen, even assisted by artificial intelligence — is like attempting to communicate with your eyes and your heart wide shuts.

Pierre Lavagne de Castellan designed the Shelltone as an instrument meant to be played underwater — where the encounter actually exists.

After two years of research between Stanford University and the École Centrale de Nantes acoustic laboratory, the Shelltone emerged.

With it, he entered the first true underwater musical interactions between a human and a humpback whale — opening a path toward a new form of interspecies communication.

Not mediated. Not interpreted. Experienced.

The only one that holds — eye to eye.

Because it is through the eyes that the light of the soul travels.