News

ICYMARE: International Conference for Young Marine Researchers We did make two presentations yesterday at the online forum organized by ICYMARE.Our colleague Liam van Walsum and Enorha Guimard present DMAD in the online forum with their presentation titled “Biodiversity of the Proposed IMMA of the Turkish Straits System”. They emphasized the importance of the Turkish Straits System as a Protection Area.The other presentation title “Investigating an apparent decline of Bottlenose Dolphins in Montenegro & how Citizen Science has helped to fill data gaps during the current pandemic” and presented by our colleague Laura Rudd. Click here for our latest article on the subject in Montenegro.

Enora and Liam writing: A month in pursuit of the Eastern’s marine mammals After 1 year of no GGDS survey because of Covid, DMAD was back on the water for this winter for 20 days of survey offshore with an incredible team. The “Great Guardians of the Deep Seas” survey is so far our most extensive survey effort and covers the underwater trenches and mountains over 100km offshore. In the past the survey ranged from Fethiye to Antalya, however this year we decided to be more ambitious and surveyed from Fethiye to Hatay! Compared to the western Mediterranean Sea, the east is more understudied concerning the diversity and abundance of cetaceans and there is a huge lack of knowledge of the animals present in this area. Most of the information about the distribution and abundance of species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea was from opportunistic sightings and strandings since the 1980s. The aim of DMAD by doing the GGDS survey is to bring together researchers, academic and professional passive acoustic monitoring in order to reduce this lack of knowledge and promote sustainable conservation practices for our marine ecosystems. Here we want to share with you the best pictures during this winter survey of some of we saw:

A boat survey in the eyes of our interns: Claudia “When you start to work with marine species, you learn how to enjoy the work as if you were there just for relaxing. It’s been two months since I arrived in Montenegro, one month since we were able to start boat surveys due to covid restrictions, and until yesterday, DMADs’ team was able to watch dolphins during a boat survey. I’m one of the assigned photographers in boat surveys and it’s amazing how many feelings go through someone’s body when you see marine mammals, excitement, happiness, nervousness, and a feeling of responsibility because at that moment you realize you are not there just to enjoy them, but also to study them, so you need to get all the information as soon as possible before you lose them again. I have to admit, I enjoy seeing dolphins through the lens of my camera and knowing that I’m taking pictures of them in their natural environment. “

Fishing practices affect the behavioural budget of bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Montenegro, South Adriatic Sea The European Cetacean Society held it’s first virtual conference and DMAD were there presenting our work on how fishing practices appear to be affecting the behavioural budget of bottlenose dolphins. You can read the abstract here or if you have any questions you can email [email protected] or [email protected]

Ever wondered what sort of project our interns get up to? Bettie shares her experiences. Hi all! My name is Bettie and I study agro- and biotechnology (animal care) in Ghent. As I’m currently in my third-year bachelor I’m writing a thesis. For my thesis I’m investigating the effect of marine traffic on the bottlenose dolphin before COVID and during COVID-19. Which means I need to collect more data for the part during COVID. So, this week we were on an extra land-survey at Rose and like always the surveys require patience. Suddenly, we saw some dolphins splashing at the surface and it gave us a boost of energy, which was good, because they were playing around with us and we followed them at least for 2 hours! Thus, it was not one of the most relaxing and easy surveys we had before, but it was more than worth it because we learnt a lot! Later that week, the weather was beautiful so we went on our third boat survey. When we entered the Kotor bay the Beaufort state turned into 4 which made the boat surfing like dolphins on the waves including ourselves! When the sea came to its sense, we put the hydrophone in the water and even though we didn’t see dolphins it was breathtaking to hear the voices of the sea. Doing this interesting research and working here as an intern really convinced me to study a master’s degree in conservation, environmental sciences or even marine biology. I would like to thank everyone of the DMAD-team to be part of such an incredible and enthusiastic team and having the opportunity to learn more about marine mammals and working in the research field!

This week DMAD staff and interns have been attending the European Cetacean Society Webinar which has been presented quite frankly by some of the legends of the marine mammal world Wow, what a week! Usually the ECS is a meeting which brings together experts from all over the world to share knowledge and new discoveries, promote international collaboration and generally act as a reminder as to why the marine mammal community works so hard to try and achieve what they can with limited resources. Unfortunately, this could not happen this year because of the current global pandemic and so instead, refusing to be beaten by the current situation, the ECS organised an online webinar of presentations. The event has been incredibly well organised and allowed a much larger array of attendees to learn and contribute from the event. Talks have come in many forms ranging from an inspiring talk from Dr. Greg Donovan about the future of marine mammal conservation and our combined responsibilities as scientists to talks all about whale poo and the effects of whales as ocean engineers by Dr. Heidi Pearson. Today, DMAD will be presenting the final session of the European Cetacean Society, “Fishing practices affect the behavioural budget of bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Montenegro, South Adriatic Sea”. The presentation gives some of the results from Laura Rudd et al.’s work on the differencesin behaviour exhibited by dolphins when in the presence of artisanal and industrial fisheries. Unfortunately Laura has recently undergone major surgery so Molly Crowe, one of DMAD’s interns from our new and highly successful remote internship who helped with the analysis will be presenting on her behalf. Make sure to catch the talk at 16:20 – 16:50 (Central European Time). That’s 15:20 UK time or 18:20 Turkish times. DMAD wishes Laura a speedy recovery.

Our team in Montenegro live on the shores of Kotor Bay and sometimes it pays to live so close to the sea! Our team was unexpectedly gifted with the presence of a passing dolphins: It was a cloudy morning, the sun hidden behind them, when we were working in our house office. The sound of typing on computers was the only sound to be heard. Until, all our phones rang at 10.45h, Aylin with her all seeing eyes, had spotted a group of dolphins passing by. We were not thinking, we were not doubting, we just ran, we ran as fast as we could, cameras at hand. Within seconds, we arrived at the seaside, waiting, looking, you could hear nothing but a deafening silence. Suddenly they appeared, those stupendous creatures, my heart raced, beating faster and faster. For a moment, I wanted to be like them, swimming, nothing holding me back, they are free, free to do and to go wherever they want, wherever they like. My thoughts were interrupted by Selina, our coordinator, because gathering data is more important than daydreaming. Now, hours later, I can’t stop thinking about them, I’ve always loved dolphins, but seeing them and dreaming about them, a whole world of difference. They are breathtaking, they are wild, free and so I remembered why I wanted to be a marine biologist.  12/3/2021 – Pictures and words by interns Claudia and Laura respectively

A week in the eyes of one of DMAD’s interns: Dorka in Montenegro “This week was quite interesting in Montenegro for our team at DMAD. Thanks to the beautiful weather we were able to go out on board again on Wednesday morning and this time the sea was super chill, the view was amazing in the basin of the mountains, although we did not see dolphins – at least not when on board. However, during the next day morning survey they appeared in front of us just exactly where we ran our boat survey the day before.”  “And if it wasn’t enough, on the same day due to the sunny weather we spotted dolphins in the sunset in Lustica Bay! This was a huge excitement because dolphin sightings were scarce in this area before, plus for one of us this was the first time to see dolphins up close which made us even happier. In front of the fabulous orange-grey sky dolphins were diving, rewarding us for all of our efforts and making all of us filled with joy. To add to the mood even though the weather was bad on Friday to conduct a survey we saw dolphins again just in front of our house from our garden! “

Jolien, an intern on placement with us, shares her experiences from last week “Last week we were stationed at Lustica Bay. As usual we prepared the theodolite, filled in the environmentals and started looking through the binoculars. It was my first time on this station so I was really amazed by the view. We just changed positions and I took the binocular to start my search for some dolphins, not really expecting to see any. Right on that moment I saw him, the first dolphin ever spotted by DMAD at Lustica Bay! I got enormously excited but also stressed at the same time because everything need to happen correct and structured. I felt really honored to be the first person to see one in the bay. “ “Later that week we had the first boat survey since I arrived so I was really curious about how it would all work out. The road to the bay where the boat was stationed was already beautiful so my day couldn’t get stuck anymore. Once we got on the boat, the view got even nicer because we could see the whole bay from it! We sailed all the way op to the Bay of Kotor, unfortunately without seeing dolphins. I think they hid for the enormous fog that came over us on the sea. Going back to the bay was a great adventure because we couldn’t see more than 10 m in front of us! Once back safe on the mainland I realized that this week was full of surprises and even tho we didn’t see dolphins on the water that day, I will never forget about it because waw, what an adventure was that!”

You may have seen our recent blog entry about our team struggling with stormy seas, rain and even a bit of snow whilst taking on the mammoth task of trying to fill data gaps in the Levantine Sea. The team struggled through seasickness and the cold and have managed to collect some really useful information on marine mammals and their associated threats, all with a smile on their face. DMAD’s Founder and Scientific Director smiling through the rain Well, it seems that the DMAD team can’t get a break with the weather! This time, our team of researchers in Montenegro was out on an opportunistic survey in the north of the country when thick fog rolled in down the mountains. Sadly this meant that the survey had to be abandoned, but the resulting photos (below) are phenomenal. Once again, full credit goes to our team for not being disheartened and appreciating the beauty of the event rather than getting frustrated. Whenever you survey in winter, there is always a good chance that you will run into bad weather (and thus winter surveys are far rarer than summer ones in marine biology), however, knowing the seasonal distribution of marine mammals is hugely important in the effective conservation of these species and so we will be back at it again and again until we have the data we need. If you would like to learn more about our work with Montenegro Dolphin Research please click here. Full credit goes to our team for keeping a positive attitude