Scientists see mass Black Sea dolphins' death as threat to their population

To find the reasons for the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea, numerous analyzes are needed, as well as operative autopsy of animals' bodies and studies of their fodder, said the ecologists and zoologists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to their version, there is no precise number of the dead dolphins.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that that on May 3, the Azov-Black Sea Inter-District Environmental Prosecutor's Office reported the discovery of 68 dead dolphins within the borders of the city of Novorossiysk. Water pollution and an unknown virus are among the versions of their death. On June 27, Sergey Tabelskiy, the Public Prosecutor of the Krasnodar Territory, announced the death of 167 dolphins.

The press service of the Prosecutor's Office has reported said that specialists of the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) see the reasons of animals' deaths in atrophy, infections, effect of parasites and tangling in fishermen's nets.

Dmitry Glazov, a leading engineer of the above institute, believes that the dolphins' mass mortality could be caused by sea pollution, since dolphins are sensitive to heavy metals and sewage drains.

He noted that the Black Sea dolphins are Red Book species, and the "Rosprirodnadzor" (the Russian Federal Service for Nature Use Supervision) should deal with the deaths thereof.

The death of animals is a threat to the entire population, while the scale of the problem is not yet known, Mr Glazov has added.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.