The dolphin population is declining due to the military invasion of the Russian Federation. This will lead to the loss of a crucial link in the food pyramid in the Black Sea.

Scientists consider it necessary to create a buffer zone in the Odessa region to reproduce the dolphin population, a center for rehabilitating animals dying en masse because of the war.

Ivan Rusev, doctor of biological sciences, an employee of the national natural park "Tuzly Estuaries" (Odessa region), said this during the seminar "Protection of the environment in conditions of martial law".

This is the idea of ​​the national park - the creation of a large marine reserve in the Black Sea for the reproduction of populations of 3 species of dolphins (bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin) and their safety, which is especially needed after their mass death from the war, as well as many years of death before the war in poaching and fishing nets.

As soon as the war is over, we need to implement a project to save dolphins

Ivan Rusev

According to him, the project can be put into practice using the Tuzly Estuaries, or the Danube Biosphere Reserve, and (or) the territory near Snake Island.

We need a protected zone where there will be no anthropogenic load, where dolphins feed and reproduce.

Ivan Rusev

According to Rusev, after the Second World War, there were about 2 million of these animals in the Black Sea, but hunting them for their skin, fat, and the like, the population of all three species of dolphins has been dramatically reduced. Therefore, in 1966, the RSSR, Romania, and Bulgaria agreed to ban dolphin hunting. Later, in 1983, Turkey joined this agreement. At that time, there were 100 thousand individuals in the Black Sea.

Two years ago, according to Rusev, there were 250,000 dolphins in the Black Sea: 45,000 bottlenose dolphins and about 100,000 common and white-beaked dolphins each.

Now the dolphin population is declining due to the military invasion of the Russian Federation. This, according to Rusev, will lead to the loss of a critical link in the food pyramid in the Black Sea.

As we wrote earlier, at the end of July, at least 5 thousand dolphins have already died in the Black Sea, on the territory of several countries, due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation. In the Odessa region, law enforcement officers are already investigating the facts of the mass death of dolphins.