Mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea. Dead Season

In Novorossiysk, the prosecutor's office is investigating the causes of the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea. On just one day in May, three more bodies of marine mammals were immediately discovered in the sea within the city limits - one near the Horse and Dolphin cafe, two more near the Zubkov battery. And in just a fairly short period of time, according to law enforcement and environmentalists, more than 100 dolphins died off the coast of Kuban and Crimea. And now the first versions of the reasons for this emergency have appeared.

In just the last month, 72 dead dolphins were found on the shore and in the sea in the Novorossiysk region alone. And according to environmentalists, another 31 dolphins died near the Crimean coast during the same period. In both cases, the bodies of marine mammals were found by local residents in the coastal strip.

Caused shock among people who witnessed this incident, and social media The region is full of discussions about the incident.

We now receive reports of the discovery of dead dolphins almost several times a day,” says Azov-Black Sea interdistrict environmental prosecutor Maxim Cherny. - We are developing several versions that could have caused these incidents. One of them is the presence of hard shelled mollusks in the stomachs of all dead dolphins. The experts who performed the autopsy believe that this could have been the cause of death of the marine mammals. Another version is water pollution. Her samples have now been taken and are in the laboratory for testing. The third version is directly physical impact for dolphins. Someone could have killed them, or the animals could have gotten caught in a net from which they were unable to escape. The fourth version is that the leader of the pack lost his natural geolocation, which forced him to throw himself ashore and other members of the pack to follow his example. If this version is correct, then we have to find out why this is happening.

According to employees of the supervisory agency, all of the listed versions have the right to exist and preference is not given to any one. But if we talk about possible environmental pollution, it is not yet clear how this could happen, because monitoring points scattered along the entire coast indicate that chemical composition water is absolutely normal.

Sources in law enforcement agencies the neighboring region reports that over the past 1.5 months the bodies of 31 dolphins have been found in the area of ​​the Kerch Peninsula. Now the environmental prosecutor's office of Crimea is checking these data.

According to environmental scientists who were involved in the investigation of an incident, such a mass death of dolphins (more than 100 individuals at once) has not occurred over the past few years.

The wounds on the bodies of the dolphins found near Novorossiysk, which were taken for gunshot wounds, could have been left by seagulls, the environmental prosecutor’s office believes. Department specialists are awaiting test results, putting forward three versions of the mass death of dolphins, including diseases. Zoologist Konstantin Andramonov, who complained about the lack of scientific research dolphins.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on May 3, the environmental prosecutor's office reported the discovery of 68 dead dolphins in the Black Sea within the borders of Novorossiysk. The media also reported that residents of Novorossiysk found dead dolphins with gunshot wounds, but the prosecutor's office called this information untrue. As of May 15, since the beginning of April, the number of dead dolphins was about 90 individuals. Experts are developing several versions of the death of animals, including water pollution.

The prosecutor's office is awaiting the results of biochemical tests

The study of six bodies of dead dolphins continues; samples taken have been sent to Moscow specialized institutions. The results of biochemical analyzes take about a month, the press service of the Azov-Black Sea Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today.

The version that some of the dolphins died from gunshot wounds has not been confirmed, confirmed prosecutor's office employee. According to him, it was established that the wounds on the bodies of the dead animals, taken for gunshots, were left by seagulls that feed on carrion.

Now the prosecutor's office is considering three versions of the mass death of dolphins - diseases, pollution sea ​​water wastewater, as well as the impact of sonars and other devices of the Novorossiysk seaport.

There is no version of oil poisoning, since no traces of them were found on the bodies of the dead animals. So far, it has been possible to accurately establish the cause of death of one of the animals, who died from pulmonary edema and intoxication with waste products, the Azov-Black Sea Environmental Prosecutor's Office reported on May 15.

Zoologist stated the need for detailed scientific research on dolphins

A zoologist, a member of the Ecological Watch for North Caucasus", former employee Gelendzhik Dolphinarium Konstantin Andramonov, who said that he did not remember such a massive death of dolphins in the Black Sea before.

At the same time, the zoologist does not believe in the version about water pollution. “I believe that this does not stand up to any criticism; the same bottlenose dolphins live in dolphinariums in much worse conditions, with water 200 times more polluted than in the natural environment,” Konstantin Andramonov told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

In his opinion, the main version of the death of dolphins remains helminths. “This is a severe infection; due to these diseases, normal life activity is disrupted, orientation in space is disrupted,” the zoologist said.

At the same time, he criticized the version that the death of animals was influenced by the construction of the Kerch Bridge, since, Andramonov is sure, dolphins can migrate away from unfavorable conditions.

Earlier it was reported that environmentalists accused the builders of the bridge across the Kerch Strait of destroying Cape Tuzla. According to the Ecological Watch for the North Caucasus, deforestation on the cape, storage of materials, and construction work have led to the collapse of the ecosystem and a negative impact not only on migratory birds, but also on dolphins.

According to the zoologist, the voiced version that at the bottom of the Black Sea since the First World War there have been barrels of a toxic substance that can be released into the water does not stand up to criticism. Andramonov also does not believe in the version about the influence of the special equipment of the Novorossiysk seaport services on the dolphins. “They simply do not have enough transmitting power to lead to the death of dolphins. Only diseases that have been well studied remain. Perhaps a new viral infection has appeared,” the expert noted.

In his opinion, the investigation by the prosecutor's office into the mass death of animals is not enough; he notes that detailed scientific research is needed in this situation. “It is necessary to establish the cause of the outbreak of the disease. Perhaps it came from the food supply: plankton, shellfish, fish, then dolphins - that is, somewhere along the way there was some kind of source of infection,” notes Andramonov.

The version of pollution of the Black Sea is actively lobbied by the owners of dolphinariums

He believes that the version of pollution of the Black Sea is actively lobbied by the owners of dolphinariums. “The sea is polluted, and they [claim that] they save dolphins by catching them. They catch them for scientific research, for educational purposes, and use them commercially,” the zoologist said.

According to his information, the administrative license for catching animals states that after five years the dolphins must be released into the wild. "In fact, none of this is being done. They ( dolphinarium owners) they say that more and more new dolphins are being born in their artificial habitat. But in fact, they are periodically caught. There are special companies that prepare documents for them,” Andramonov said.

Animal rights activists are now fighting for the introduction of genetic certification of marine mammals found in dolphinariums

According to him, animal rights activists are now fighting for the introduction of genetic certification of marine mammals that are in dolphinariums in order to establish where the dolphin was born - in the natural environment or in captivity. “It’s impossible to know now,” the expert notes.

According to him, there is “a very large lobby” for dolphins. He mentioned information that it is planned to open a dolphinarium in Grozny. On May 6, the Grozny TV company reported that a dolphinarium was being built in Grozny.

“There’s a lot of money there. It turns out that the law is relaxed for [dolphins] born in captivity, they become the private property of the dolphinarium,” the expert said. According to him, not a single dolphin caught for the dolphinarium has yet natural environment not returned. “For 25 years, all these organizations have been violating the orders of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and they continue to be issued fishing permits,” Andramonov said.

At the same time, he noted that all animals kept in dolphinariums suffer from intestinal dysbiosis, since chlorine is used to purify water. “In the Gelendzhik Dolphinarium, where I worked, the water is so dirty that they have constant dysbiosis, and this is suppressed with antibiotics. Chlorine burns everything, all the intestinal microflora,” said the zoologist.

According to his information, three species of dolphins live in the Black Sea: the bottlenose dolphin, the white-sided dolphin and the Azov dolphin, all of which are classified as rare species. At the same time, there is no exact data on the dolphin population in the Black Sea, notes Andramonov; only aerial surveys are conducted, which cannot show the real numbers. The approximate number of bottlenose dolphins, according to the expert, is about 30 thousand individuals.

About 11 dead dolphins were found on the shore of Evpatoria, in the area of ​​the Simferopol-Evpatoria highway and in the area of ​​the village of Morskoye.

The exact reasons for the incident are still unknown. This could have happened due to human intervention, but scientists do not exclude the possibility that the dolphins themselves washed ashore. According to them, when the leader is injured, he is thrown ashore and the whole flock follows him. In this way, animals become victims of their social structure.

It is noted that the distance between dead dolphins is several hundred meters. It is also likely that the cause of the mass death of animals could be a storm; one of the reasons for the death of dolphins could be some kind of epidemic, because dolphins, especially Azov dolphins, are very sensitive to environment, and to diseases.

Dead dolphins are regularly found on the beaches of Black and Azov seas, But there are so many of them in 2017 that this attracted increased public attention - zoologists and ordinary vacationers discovered a total of 428 dolphins. The peak of dolphin emissions traditionally occurs on spring-summer period ,a large number of dead dolphins were found near Sevastopol.

Speculations are being made. What the death of dolphins is associated with negative impact sonars and acoustic equipment, installed on ships in Sevastopol and Novorossiysk, as well as pollution of the water area, infection of dolphins with helminths.

At the beginning of this year 4 bottlenose dolphins, 4 Azov dolphins and 2 white drums were found dead on the shore. One dolphin was found in the Sudak region, 3 in the Feodosia region, 1 in Yalta, 4 in the Sevastopol region and 1 near Evpatoria. The bottlenose dolphin showed signs of being caught in fishing gear - its tail fin was cut off. Two more dolphins had serious signs of exhaustion They probably died as a result of the disease. The remaining bodies were at the stage of decomposition, which made it impossible to visually determine possible reason death. Most of the animals found were adults; there were no babies among them. Experts suggest that sudden jump Dolphin deaths with subsequent peaks are expected in late March - early April and until the end of July.

Among the causes of death of dolphins are deaths in nets, viruses, diseases, severe storms. and lack of food. Eg, common dolphins in Balaklava V In search of food, they swim very close to the shore and even beg for food from people.

And in 2018, the inexplicable happened –in winter and spring months there was no annual seasonal fish migration, for which the dolphins come. The animals had to starve.

The health of dolphins is also adversely affected by the state of the sea - a high concentration of pesticides eaten with fish is found in the subcutaneous fat of dead dolphins. Toxins have a particularly strong effect on the body during mammalian weight loss, and poisoning of dolphins with pesticides.

Marine biologists do not exclude the presence of other reasons that remain to be clarified. Now biologists are collecting signatures so that their initiative on the ban on the use of flounder and katran nets, invisible to dolphins, was considered at the state level.

Three species of dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas - bottlenose dolphins, white-sided dolphins and azovs. The Red Book of Russia states: “ Number of bottlenose dolphins in the Black Sea is sharply declining, which is especially noticeable in comparison with the pre-war period, when there were dolphins of all types in the sea about 0.5–1 million heads . By May 1977 year, according to aerial records, total number reached dolphins 140 thousand, of which 36 thousand bottlenose dolphins. A route survey from ships carried out ten years later showed a decrease the number of all dolphins is up to 113 thousand, and bottlenose dolphins - up to 7 thousand, i.e. more than five times" .

In Russia, a ban on dolphin fishing in the Black Sea has been in effect since 1966, all Black Sea countries have stopped fishing, and the last one refused to catch dolphins Türkiye in 1983. Unfortunately, after the ban on dolphin fishing, the dolphin population in the Black Sea did not stop declining.

No one knows exactly how many dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas. The fact is that systematic monitoring of numbers is not carried out, but expert review gives quite a wide spread - data varies from several thousand up to 140 thousand individuals. Oddly enough, we know quite little about how the Black Sea dolphins use the water area, what migration routes they have and whether they exist at all - according to some information, there are several sedentary groups of dolphins. These questions require research.

All three species of our dolphins are listed in the Red Book of Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the Red Book International Union nature conservation. It is difficult to say why we know so little about the state of the dolphin population. Perhaps because they were of no interest for fishing and only scientists were interested in their biology. Unfortunately, the capabilities of scientific organizations are, as a rule, limited, and to conduct a large-scale census of the dolphin population, systematic observation is needed, it is necessary to observe the behavior of dolphins in the sea every year, preferably at the same time, several planes, ships are needed, and, most importantly, , experienced specialists who are able to identify animals from the air or from the surface of the water and count them, which is very difficult. All this is quite problematic from an organizational point of view.

❗Attention! Witnesses to the death or unlawful actions against dolphins should contact Rosprirodnadzor by calling 8-978-905-88-44.

In order to remove a washed-up dolphin corpse, you should call to hotline 1563 Unified city duty dispatch service.

❗If a dead or living dolphin is found on the shore in Crimea, Please call the following numbers:
+79780326852
+79164090148

Not long ago in Novorossiysk it was recorded a large number of dead dolphins, now the carcasses of dead mammals have begun to appear in Abkhazia.

Over the past month, four cases of dolphin deaths were recorded in Abkhazia. Sputnik correspondent Vladimir Begunov was told why dolphins are dying in the Black Sea by Murman Solomko, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Ecology and Nature Conservation of Abkhazia, and Roman Dbar, Director of the ANA Institute of Ecology.

According to the chairman of the State Committee for Ecology and Nature Conservation of Abkhazia, this year experts managed to capture only one dolphin. The bodies of other mammals were not found.

Apparently they were carried away by the sea, the publication writes.

The only dead dolphin that was examined was without any physical injuries. According to Solomko, it was a baby dolphin who died of a heart attack after getting caught in a fishing net.

Cases of mass death of marine mammals, according to Murman Solomko, are associated with the fact that dolphins lose orientation in space during storms, they get seasick, and they wash ashore, believing that they are swimming towards the sea, writes Sputnik.

According to the director of the Institute of Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of Abkhazia, the mass death of dolphins in Novorossiysk is associated with the military fleet.

Nothing other than the navy can lead to so many deaths of dolphins, Sputnik quotes Roman Dbar as saying. - The military on ships and submarines use powerful ultrasonic equipment, from which dolphins literally go crazy and wash up on the shore, not understanding anything.

According to the scientist, many mammals die due to fishing nets. Once entangled in the nets, they are unable to breathe air and die.

It is easy to identify such dolphins - they have a cut off fin on their back, says Dbar.

The fact is that fishermen, when they see a dead dolphin in their nets, do not waste time trying to disentangle the dolphin. They simply cut off the fin and throw the carcass into the sea.

According to the scientist, of the three species of dolphins in the Black Sea, the Azov dolphin is the one most often caught in the net. The bobwhite rarely gets entangled in nets, the bottlenose dolphin almost never.

- Firstly, these two species are found at great depths, and secondly, and this is the main thing, the white drum and bottlenose dolphin have a different level and frequency of the echolocation signal, they can recognize nets, but the coastal Azov dolphin cannot.

Previously "Living Kuban" that almost 70 dolphins died in Novorossiysk from April to May. All carcasses were found within the city of Novorossiysk. The Azov-Black Sea Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office organized an investigation into this fact. However, there are still no official versions. The exact reasons for the death of mammals have not yet been established.

Dead dolphins are regularly found on the beaches of the Black and Azov Seas, but in 2017 there were so many of them that it attracted increased public attention - zoologists and ordinary vacationers discovered a total of more than 200 individuals during the season. Yuga.ru figured out why so many dolphins died this year and how many there are in the Black and Azov Seas.

From April 1 to May 1 alone, 68 dolphins died in the Black Sea, the Azov-Black Sea Environmental Prosecutor's Office reports. In June, on the popular Vysoky Bereg beach in Anapa, vacationers discovered dead dolphins, which, according to social media users, had lain there for several days.

“We have municipal beaches and those operated by tenants. They themselves must enter into an agreement with a specialized organization that exports dolphins. Apparently these dolphins ended up on the beach during the storm we had two days ago."- said the Anapa city hall.

• Abkhaz scientists suggested that the cause of the death of mammals was the military fleet.
• The prosecutor's office associated the death of the dolphins with the negative impact of sonars and acoustic equipment installed in the Novorossiysk area, pollution of the water area, and infection with helminths.

Three species of dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas - bottlenose dolphins, white sided dolphins and azovs(they are also called porpoises). Bottlenose dolphins are the most common; they are also found in warm and temperate waters of the World Ocean, for example, in the Baltic Sea, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Red Sea. It is not known for certain how many bottlenose dolphins live in all seas and oceans, but there is evidence that there are at least 67 thousand of them in the Gulf of Mexico, in the northwestern part Pacific Ocean- about 35 thousand, in the Mediterranean Sea - about 7 thousand individuals. Bottlenose dolphins are listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Red Book of Russia.

“The number of bottlenose dolphins in the Black Sea is sharply declining, which is especially noticeable compared to the pre-war period, when there were approximately 0.5-1 million dolphins of all types here, - indicated in the Red Book of Russia. — By May 1977, according to aerial surveys, the total number of dolphins reached only 140 thousand, of which 36 thousand were bottlenose dolphins. Ten years later, a route survey from ships showed a decrease in the number of all dolphins to 113 thousand, and bottlenose dolphins - to 7 thousand, i.e. more than five times".

All countries have stopped fishing in the Black Sea. In Russia, the ban has been in effect since 1966; Turkey was the last to stop catching dolphins in 1983. But, unfortunately, after this the dolphin population did not stop declining.

Head of the Caucasus branch of WWF

“No one knows exactly how many dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas. The fact is that systematic monitoring of the population is not carried out, and the expert assessment gives a fairly large scatter - the data varies from several thousand to 140 thousand individuals,” Valery Shmunk told the Yuga.ru portal. - Oddly enough, we know quite little about how the Black Sea dolphins use the water area, what migration routes they have and whether they exist at all - according to some information, there are several sedentary groups of dolphins. These questions require research.

All three species of our dolphins are listed in various Red Books and the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is difficult to say why we know so little about the state of their populations. Perhaps because they were of no interest for fishing and only scientists were interested in their biology. But the capabilities of scientific organizations are, as a rule, limited, and to carry out large-scale accounting, systematicity is needed (observations must take place every year, preferably at the same time), several aircraft, ships and, most importantly, experienced specialists who are capable of or identify animals from the surface of the water and count them, which is very difficult. All this is quite problematic from an organizational point of view.

It’s too early to say that dolphins in the Black and Azov Seas are close to extinction

It is too early to say that dolphins in the Black and Azov Seas are close to extinction. In any case, with regard to bottlenose dolphins and white-sided dolphins, they apparently feel quite comfortable and cause the least concern. The Azov fish is in the most vulnerable position; this species more often than others ends up in fishing nets.

Scientists don't know exactly why cetaceans wash ashore. Many say that this is a navigation error, some associate it with the activity of hydroacoustic devices, there are different opinions. In my opinion, the main problem in our conditions is that there is no clear understanding of the state of the dolphin populations of the Black and Azov Seas, and therefore we are in captivity of guesswork. In areas where marine mammals live, there should be a network of trained shore observers who can signal where carcasses or mass mortality events have occurred, and possibly collect samples for research. Now there is none of this.”

Leading engineer of IPEE RAS, deputy. Chairman of the Marine Mammal Council, Moscow

Leading engineer of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after A.N. Severtsov RAS (Moscow), Deputy Chairman public organization The Marine Mammal Council told Yuga.ru journalist about the reasons for the death of the dolphins:

“Dead dolphins and whales are being found on beaches around the world. The final stage of life is death, the animal dies, the corpse can float, and it is washed ashore. In addition, marine mammals are quite large, and it is difficult not to notice them when they are on the shore. Black Sea dolphins in this regard do not differ from their relatives from other bodies of water.

The corpses of dolphins on the coast in themselves are not at all something extraordinary, but this year the number of dead animals is unusual. Why this happened was determined by the environmental prosecutor's office of the Krasnodar region and our colleagues from the Utrish Nature Reserve, at biological stations in Crimea, Georgia and Ukraine. But it was not possible to determine the cause.

Most often, dolphins die near the coast because they become entangled in fishing nets - they suffocate and drown. Fishermen cut off the fins of dead dolphins to make it easier to remove them from their nets. It is easy to understand that a dolphin died in the nets: there are no fins on the body and there are traces of ropes. Corpses with such marks from nets are a relatively normal situation for the Black Sea coast.

This year, the vast majority of carcasses have no visible marks, and it has been suggested that the animals died from infection

This year, the vast majority of carcasses have no visible marks, leading to speculation that the animals died from infection. To qualitatively determine the availability infectious diseases samples can only be taken from fresh carcasses, otherwise it is extremely difficult to detect that animals are infected. On the Utrish Peninsula we found several dolphins from whom we managed to take samples; we did not find any known infections, but this does not guarantee that there were none. Of course, every method has errors. In addition, the causative agents of the infection could have changed - mutated in such a way that it is difficult to detect using standard research methods.

The reasons for the death of dolphins can be other: water or food pollution caused by technogenic processes - construction, cargo transportation. I was asked if it was possible that the dolphins were harmed due to the construction of the Crimean Bridge. But corpses were found along the entire coast of the Caucasus, Crimea, Georgia and Ukraine, and not just in the zone of influence of the construction site. It seems to me that more global cause could have caused such a death than the construction of a bridge or the laying of a pipe for a gas pipeline.

The working version is that the dolphins are dying due to a modification of the virus that we have not currently been able to isolate and identify.”

As Dmitry Glazov reported, there is no exact data on the number of all three species of dolphins in the Black Sea. Large-scale censuses have not been carried out since the 80s. Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution named after. A.N. Severtsov RAS conducted regular studies of Black Sea dolphins in the late 90s - early 2000s. Researchers walked along the coast and recorded the number of dead animals, collected data on pollution, and carried out local censuses along the coast. Now, according to various estimates, more than 200 dead dolphins have been found on the Caucasus coast alone, which is many times more than in those years when the Institute of Ecological Problems conducted research.

In total, there are several known cases involving the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea - 1989-1990, 2002 and 2012-2013. The reasons were different, including massive infection with helminths that developed in the inner ear of Azov dogs - they lost orientation and died. In the 90s, deaths were associated with a viral infection that actively spread through water and airborne droplets. Then not only wild individuals suffered, but also animals in dolphinariums. This year, mortality is observed on the Black Sea coast not only in Russia, but also in Georgia, on