Ligurian Sea Cetacean Sanctuary, Marine protected area in Ligurian Sea, Italy.

The Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals is a marine protected area of about 87,500 square kilometres in the Ligurian basin, bounded by Cap d'Escampobariou near Toulon, Capo Falcone and Capo Ferro in Sardinia, and the Chiarone river on the Tuscany-Lazio border. It lies in the waters of France, Monaco and Italy and hosts twelve cetacean species, including the fin whale, the second-largest animal on Earth.

The area received official protection status in 1999 through international agreements between Italy, France, and Monaco to preserve marine mammals. This agreement emerged from the understanding that the species and their habitats needed special attention to survive long-term.

The sanctuary holds deep meaning for researchers and coastal communities as a place dedicated to protecting marine mammals. Visitors can join observation trips to learn about the whales and dolphins that inhabit these waters.

Certified boat operators from ports in Genoa, Savona, and Viareggio offer guided observation trips from April through October. The best time for whale watching is late spring and early summer, when the animals are most active.

In 1992, before the sanctuary existed, the Tethys Institute, Greenpeace and the University of Barcelona counted 32,800 striped dolphins and 830 fin whales in these waters. A Greenpeace survey in August 2008 found only a quarter of the fin whales and less than half of the striped dolphins recorded in the 1990s.