The Black Sea dolphins are dying and could be victims of war

Dolphins burned by bomb or mine explosions.

many thousands found dead suddenly, some ended up on the coasts of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

The sudden and mysterious death of so many graceful marine mammals is causing alarm among some scientists that the war in Ukraine could have a growing impact on life in the Black Sea.

Battles along the Ukrainian coast caused a incalculable environmental damage and interfered with dolphin habitat, scientists say.

But the war made it impossible to gather detailed information, leaving the dolphin deaths as one mystery currently.

recent studies by Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine found that marine biodiversity was increasingly threatened by warfare, including bombs falling on coastal feeding areas, oil from sunken ships, and drains from rivers contaminated from chemicals used in ammunition.

Ivan Rusev, an environmental scientist at the Tuzla Estuarine National Nature Park in Ukraine, said data collected by his organization since the start of the war indicated that several thousand dolphins had been killed.

He said also the increase in ship noise and the use of powerful sonar systems disorient to dolphins, who use sound to navigate.

“Some of the dolphins had burns from bomb or mine explosions and could no longer navigate and, of course, could not search for food,” he wrote.

The Turkish Marine Research Foundation reported in March “a staggering increase” in dead dolphins that have run aground on shore.

He said dolphins were being caught in fishing nets and was investigating why such incidents had increased in number, including whether military activity in the northern Black Sea played a role.

“In addition to marine pollution, noise from ships and low-frequency sonar is known to be a serious threat to marine species, especially dolphins, which actively use underwater sounds for feeding and navigation,” they said. stated the researchers.

The Turkish Marine Research Foundation also said the war is taking a devastating price en Marine biodiversity in general.

The Russian navy dominates the Black Sea off the Ukrainian coast and has imposed a blockade on all Ukrainian ships.

Russia has waged brutal campaigns to gain control of several key Ukrainian ports along the Black Sea and the adjacent Sea of ​​Azov, and its warships patrol the waters around Ukraine.

Before the war, 100 scientists representing an international group of cetacean conservation treaties and using 10 aircraft and six ships studied marine life in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean area.

They found that the Black Sea housed more than 253,000 dolphins, a healthy number that, according to scientists, offered a positive ecological indicator of the ecosystem in general.

Now, however, it remains to be seen what the ultimate cost of the war will be for dolphins and other marine life.

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