A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY ON THETHREE CETACEAN SPECIES STRANDED ALONG THE BULGARIAN BLACK SEA COAST
VIOLETA EVTIMOVA1, VENTZESLAV DELOV1, DIMITAR PARVANOV2, ATANAS GROZDANOV1,
YANA VELINA3
1 – Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
2 – Research Department, Nadezhda, Women’s Health Hospital, 3 “Blaga vest” Street, Sofia, Bulgaria
3 – Ministry of Environment and Water of Bulgaria
Keywords: Cetaceans, marine mammals, The Black Sea, Tursiops truncatus, Phocoena phocoena, Delphinus delphis
Abstract: The study was conducted by examining stranded cetaceans while explicitly searching for dead marine mammals. Observations were made through covering transects along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The data collection was in compliance with the standard form of the Mediterranean Data Base of Cetacean Strandings (MEDACES). The data gathered in this study encompass the three common cetacean species met in the Black Sea and covers the period January – September 2015.
As a result of the research, it was found that the most abundant species strandings were of Phocoena phocoena (46%), followed by Tursiops truncatus (14%) and Delphinus delphis (7%).The most significant number of strandings was observed in August (19 cases). The “hot points” with the highest number of strandings were the beaches of Varna (14% of all strandings), Shabla (10%), Zlatni Piasatsi and Krapets (9%). The number of reported incidents was higher in comparison with the available data from the last few years. The actual information for cetacean strandings along the Bulgarian Black Sea provided could be used for improving of the conservation measures taken for these vulnerable species.