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Our Intern and Volunteer Coordinator Selina Brouwer Writes for DMAD It was a beautiful morning in November. It was cold however, the rising sun was gently warming us. We entered the Bay of Kotor and there was a small layer of fog hanging above the water, the water was calm and reflected like a mirror. We were all quietly watching in all directions…waiting until we saw that one fin or blow coming above the water… and at that moment I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I saw it was something black, I looked again and there I saw that beautiful fin coming out of the water! “DOLPHIN AT 11 O’CLOCK!!”, I exclaimed as quietly as my excitement would allow. Immediately we started collecting data, taking pictures, and deploying the hydrophone into the water. We saw a fluke out of the water, heard some loud blows as dolphins resurfaced and clicks on the hydrophone. They were definitely looking for some food. They didn’t seem to be disturbed by us, however, as soon as we’d collected the necessary data, we left them alone and continued our search for the dolphins of Montenegro.

DMAD are delighted to announce that yesterday we were awarded, ” Best Paper Presented by a Young Researcher” for our paper, “Comparisons of Acoustic Patterns of the Sperm Whale in the Ionian Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea) and the North-Western (Eastern Mediterranean Sea)” at the IMEKO TC-19 International Workshop on Meteorology for the Sea. The award which is given to researchers aged 35 or under was presented to DMAD Research Associate Tim Awbery on behalf of his coauthors from DMAD, Dr Aylin Akkaya and Patrick Lyne as well as coauthors from Italy, Giulia Cipriano (University of Bari), Rosalia Maglietta (National Research Council, Italy), Vito Reno (National Research Council, Italy), Carmello Fanizza (Jonian Dolphin Conservation) and Roberto Carlucci (University of Bari). The MetroSea conference aims to gather people who work in developing instrumentation and measurement methods for the sea and attention is paid, but not limited to, new technology for sea environment monitoring, metrology-assisted production in sea industry, ship component measurement, sensors and associated signal conditioning for the sea, and calibration methods for electronic test and measurement for marine applications. This year’s conference was hosted by the Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope” as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of its foundation. The abstract of the paper can be found below. Anyone that attended the conference will be able to access the pre-recording of the presentation until the 7th of November and the manuscript will be published in the proceedings in the near future for the rest of the world to read. DMAD wants to thank all the people that have come together from around the world for making this research possible and thank the organisers of the conference firstly for the award and secondly for putting together such an excellent conference with such interesting presentations. We hope to see everyone at the conference next year under more favourable conditions. AbstractSperm whales Physeter macrocephalus show a steady population decline, yet despite their threatened status, there remains a dearth of knowledge in the Mediterranean Sea. The current study reports the preliminary results of sperm whales’ acoustic patterns within the Gulf of Taranto and the Northwestern Levantine Sea. “Regular” clicks were recorded in both regions indicating the presence of foraging grounds. “Codas” were also present in the Northwestern Levantine. The presence of codas and social units emphasises the importance of the North-western Levantine as potential nursery grounds. Further, interclick intervals were slightly smaller for the Taranto Gulf while recordings from the North-western Levantine Sea showed similarities with the Mediterranean Sea. Lastly, sperm whales were larger in size in the Taranto Gulf compared to the Northwestern Levantine Sea. The current results depended on data collected on a single date, therefore further research must be implemented to understand the acoustic patterns of sperm whales.

DMAD’s Montenegro Dolphin Research get involved in NVO Nasa akcija (NGO Our Action)’s Youth for a Clean Adriatic Project On Friday night, DMAD joined the NVO Nasa akcija / NGO Our action team to work on their “Youth for a Clean Adriatic” through education. Due to the covid measures, education was conducted in smaller groups with young people in Podgorica and Kotor. DMAD were involved giving the lecture “Blue Engineers of Montenegro” following the recent cooperation agreement signed by the two organisations. The presentation which was given by Sian and Lara, two interns from DMAD’s Montenegro Dolphin Research focused on the economic and ecological importance of dolphins and the impact of plastic pollution on the marine ecosystem. The lecture was held in the eco-youth house “Muo house”, which was opened by the NGO Nasa akcija at this location in May 2019. We will continue our cooperation working on education and beach clean ups together.  

DMAD signed a cooperation agreement with NGO Naša Akcija from Kotor. The contract was signed on behalf of DMAD founder and scientific director by Dr. Aylin Akkaya and on behalf of the NGO Naša Akcija by its Executive Director Patricia Pobrić.The aim of the cooperation is to connect with young people with the association and its long-term research work in Montenegro through education and fieldwork with scientists. This will be offered at various levels; firstly to students of biology and ecology, and then to high school and elementary school pupils. During the activities, young people will also have the opportunity to meet students in the same professions from other countries who both live and carry out research work in our country.

Phoebe Thorpe writing for DMAD 07/07/2020 There is often much confusion surrounding aquariums and captivity. This issue seems to crop up in discussions with the MMR team and so we thought it best to write about it in order to hopefully make this topic less confusing for you and address the issues within captivity. Aquariums use advertising to mislead people into thinking the animals are happy, healthy and enjoy where they live. A common misconception is that cetaceans, especially dolphins, are smiling. In fact they simply just always look happy, it is just the way their face is, even if they were suffering. “The dolphin smile is nature’s greatest deception. It creates the illusion that they’re always happy.” – Ric O’Barry. Marine mammals are designed to swim in the open ocean. A wild dolphin can swim on average 100 miles per day! So just imagine the effect being in a tank has on their physical and mental health! The confined space causes stress to the animals. Stress leads to gastric ulcers, stereotypical behaviour like self harm, and disease. In captivity they are placed in different groups with dolphins that have come from different families, which makes communication between them impossible. The combination of not being able to communicate and a confined space leads to the dolphins becoming frustrated and aggressive. In the wild if conflicts occur they are able to swim away from the aggressor, this is not possible in a tank and results in dolphins getting severe wounds. In the wild marine mammals eat live fish, squid and crustaceans, this is not the case in aquariums. Aquariums feed their marine mammals dead, frozen fish and squid. This food has a lower water content than their natural prey as a result they must have a tube put down their throat into their stomach to hydrate them.   As well as the small environment they live in causing stress, the shallowness of the water exposes the dolphins to the sun. This overexposure to the sun results in sunburns and blisters. Whatsmore the tanks are chlorinated which burns their eyes causing permanent damage.  When you see dolphins perform you probably think that they have fun when performing tricks and you can train them the same as how you train a dog. A dolphin is a wild animal and a dog is a domestic animal and has been specifically bred to be around humans, a dolphin has not. There is no possible way to train cetaceans, well not in a kind way like the way we train our pets. As there is no real way to train a dolphin the trainers starve them. Through food deprivation the dolphins will do what the performers ask them to because they are desperate for food and it is the only way to satisfy their hunger. The performers call this mistreatment “positive reinforcement” to pull the cover over the truth.  This information may feel disheartening and difficult to believe that people would do this to wild animals, but we want to give you this information to educate the world and help these animals. There are however other options than aquariums to see and enjoy marine mammals. You may not realise, but generally in many oceans around the world it is common to find wild cetaceans. Instead of travelling to an aquarium to see them in a tank, why not travel to the coast and take some binoculars or go for a boat ride and see them in their natural habitat! One argument dolphinariums make is that they provide education. But how can this be? It is not educational because people see these animals not in their natural habitat and therefore don’t actually see how cetaceans naturally behave. Therefore it is much more beneficial and rewarding to you and the animals to see them in the wild. Let’s remember also that animals were not put on this planet for our use and our entertainment, that is what books, tv and theatres are for. They are there to protect and learn from so let’s strive to do that!  “We should be teaching the next generation to respect wildlife. Not exploit them.” – The Dolphin Project. After reading this blog we encourage you to read more about captivity to better understand why this is a terrible environment for animals. The Dolphin Project and founder Ric O’Barry are a fantastic organisation and share a lot of facts about captivity. We would like to thank them for their work. Much of the information in this blog was taken from The Dolphin Project website.  Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article please visit our Facebook and Instagram page. Also we recommend you check out The Dolphin Project on Instagram as well as their website.  Visit The Dolphin Project 

Enorha Guimard and Liam van Walsum writing for DMAD 06/07/2020  Today the world is becoming more and more environmentally aware, driving an increased focus on questioning the welfare of animals in human captivity. One such example of this are dolphinariums, aquariums for dolphins, that are used to house and/or train dolphins for purposes such as acrobatic shows.According to an article by David Kirby for TakePart, there are over 343 facilities across 63 countries that house a total of 2100 captive dolphins and whales. Of the 195 countries of the world, only 14 ban captive displays of dolphins.Before listing the known issues with these aquariums it would be objective to note that not all are strictly for commercial purposes. For example, the Dolphin Marine Conservation Park in Australia is licensed to rescue and rehabilitate marine mammals by its state wildlife service. That said, they still do train dolphins and put on shows, probably as a way to maintain funding. However many dolphinariums are strictly commercial and exist only to attract visitors, with varying levels of animal welfare. Dolphins have unique behaviours and physiologies that make them unsuitable for captivity.Most captive dolphins are bottlenose, these are coastal dolphins that travel long distances in the wild for foraging or seasonal migrations. In a 2008 paper by Hawkins and Gartside it was recorded that dolphins can spend 38% of their time travelling and 19% foraging, during which time dolphins will deep dive, fast swim (bursts of speed), and ‘porpoise’, behaviours that are impossible or restricted in dolphinarium pools. Wild dolphins also have complex social groups, ranging from pods of 2 to pods of well over 1000 in some species or regions. These pods can have dynamic and flexible social interactions both within their pod and with other pods that may not be present in dolphinariums.The mental health of the dolphin is also at question. Mental health is hard to measure, especially if the subject cannot converse with us in any way other than body language. Suicide of dolphins has been recorded. Additionally, a proposed explanation for the phenomenon of curved fins in captured orcas is depression. A study by Dima and Gache in 2004 listed suicide among the most common causes of captive dolphin deaths, among disease, accidental events and malnutrition.When looking at the welfare of captive dolphins in Australia in 2019, the RSPCA lists the following categories as areas of concern: social behaviour, space restrictment, sound, interaction with humans, health deterioration. A potential answer to this issue can be found in the newest creation of Edge Innovation’s, an animatronics and special effects company which were also behind in some cinema’s famous scenes from “Saving Willy”, “Flipper” and “Deep Blue Sea”.  The idea came from a chinese aquarium that proposed the creation of a robotic dolphin due to restrictions in China’s wildlife trade because of the Covid-19 crisis. Edge Innovation claims their aim is to demonstrate their technologies so they can replace other animals that are not suitable for captivity and hopefully to speed the process of limiting the use of wild animals in parks such as Sea World. The animatronic is reportedly so realistic that viewers of the event claimed it looked just like a normal dolphin in its movements. The dolphin displayed by Edge Innovations has a battery life of 10 hours and weighs just under 270, costing $40 – $60 million usd. The dolphin has no cameras, sensors, or AI and is controlled completely remotely. The design of the dolphin used a realistic musculoskeletal frame with artificial skin that allows for its full realistic movements, expressions and appearance in addition to yellow stained teeth to really sell the illusion.No behaviours such as jumps were made during Edge Innovation’s demo, and we could not find confirmation if this was within the robot’s capabilities.Therefore although likely this technology may lead to a reduction or even complete disappearance of dolphins in commercial captivity, it is unlikely that this animatronic will fully replace live dolphins until a future iteration can leap out of the water for customers. The robot is controlled by a nearby operator and interacts with visitors. Photo credit: Blooloop Although originally created to revolutionise the live commercial dolphin industry in line with modern animal ethics, the technology created by Edge Innovation may lead to advances in other fields. Zoos may soon have similar animatronic contraptions that can reduce stress on animals from visitors. However the disappearance of animals from zoos will be unlikely as many have breeding programs designed to support declining wild populations. Although CGI has taken over as the dominant method of creating unnatural visuals on screen, we have seen recent pushes for the increased use of practical effects by nostalgic fans such as in Star Wars and Mad Max. An article from National Geographic by Jane Lee in 2019 explains that marine mammals such as dolphins and seals have been used previously by the military to detect mines with greater accuracy than machines. Although this would make the animatronic redundant, being a machine, its realistic appearance may be useful to avoid a search, as opposed to conducting a search. Finally, and most importantly to our work here at DMAD, this technology could potentially be used in a research capacity. Autonomous vehicles in marine research are already in widespread use, as their deployment reduces the amount of expensive and potentially unsafe boat expeditions needed. Although in its current form it would likely only serve to scare away organisms that dolphins may feed on, future iterations and design changes may allow for more effective marine research. For example designing a robot in the shape of an organism that reduces changes in the behaviour, such as fright, of a target species around this robot would allow a more intimate look into that species.  Therefore the further development of the technology in a research capacity will be dependent on the target species and its behaviour, the geographic area of interest, and the style of monitoring desired by researchers as outlined by Verfus et al in their 2019 paper. Because of this need

The “Genoa 4” captured media and public attention and turned, seemingly overnight, from an exciting instance of nature interacting with humans to a cause for continent-wide conservation conscern. Research Assistant Francesca Soster explores the saga that taught us a lesson of synergy and cooperation.   As the DMAD team was concluding the winter leg of its annual Giant Guardians of the Deep Sea Expedition, in the Ligurian Sea another – somewhat unexpected – giant guardian of the deep was emerging nearby . The appearance, that not only drew the attention of the international science community, would captivate the citizens of coastal countries overlooking the entire Mediterranean basin and lead to unforeseen advances in migratory research of marine mammals.  On November the 30th 2019, a pod of killer whales appeared in the commercial port of Prà-Voltri in the city of Genoa, Italy; an area where marine traffic is intense and where no one would expect to see these charismatic and magnificent animals. Although this wasn’t actually the first time that killer whales have appeared in the Ligurian waters, the exciting but tragic events that transpired made this particular appearance even more extraordinary.  The “Genoa 4” with the calf in the initial momentsafter their appearance in the port of Genoa The whales were initially spotted underwater by a spear fisher, who immediately surfaced when the huge male took him by surprise and, as soon as he got into his RIB, took a video that went viral in a few hours. These amazing creatures were soon warmly and happily welcomed by the curious local people and by those who went to Genoa from far away just to see them, with their eyes wide open and ready for this uncommon show. Those black fins in front of the Genoese buildings looked quite surreal . Scientists from different research associations that operate in the Pelagos Sanctuary, together with the Coastguard, veterinarians from Genoa Aquarium, and biologists working for local whale watching companies immediately pulled together and coordinated to collate data and information. However, the excitement and curiosity for such an incredible sighting turned rapidly to concern: the pod counted five individuals, of which one was a calf.   Many hypotheses were formulated to suggest why the pod didn’t seem to be leaving the harbour. It turned out that the health conditions of the calf were critical. The Italian Ministry of the Environment immediately issued the order to stop marine traffic in the area, along with the claim that the preservation of biodiversity had to be the priority of politics. The whales were monitored throughout the days by researchers. On social media, beyond the hype, many people showed interest, love and concern for this family, whilst other people followed its story through the lens of their cameras and binoculars , standing on the beach and the big rocks of the port.   SN114 “Zena” with her dead calf Sadly, despite the measures and the great job the authorities did to keep the animals undisturbed, the calf died, and a heart-breaking funeral rite lasted until the mother grieved the loss and released its body after carrying it for days, holding its pectoral fin. The whales were visibly exhausted, hardly moving, surfacing rarely and slowly, occasionally showing discomfort and nervousness by slapping their tails. The high levels of social interaction among killer whales (which is now known to be a key behavioural trait of the species), was shown once again by their sophisticated sensitivity through the pain and sorrow felt by the members of the pod.   Meanwhile, scientists from different parts of the world combined their efforts to find an answer to the questions that were still pending: who are they and where did they come from? A synergetic work of data-sharing began, and the engagement of the international community of marine mammologists was further facilitated by the convening first World Marine Mammal Conference, which was coincidentally taking place in Barcelona during the same period.  Although it was hard to believe there could be a match over such a long distance, the researchers of Orca Guardians, a non-profit organisation based on the West coast of Iceland, made contact with several organisations in Italy in order to get high quality pictures and to try to match them with a catalogue of more than 300 individuals of the West Iceland killer whale population. Marie Thérèse Mrusczok, founder and head of the organisation, could clearly recognize and identify the four individuals thanks to the incredible level of international cooperation. In particular, the work conducted by Italian NGOs Menkab: Il Respiro del Mare and Tethys Research Institute made identification possible through the sharing of their survey photos, together with the support of the University of Genoa, the Port Authority and other stakeholders . On December the 16th, the match of the “Genoa 4” was complete: Riptide (SN113), a fully grown male, Aquamarin (SN116), a juvenile, Dropi (SN115), whose sex has not been identified yet, and the female (SN114) that lost her calf, have been regularly spotted in Iceland from 2014 to 2018. A quick poll was launched by Orca Guardians on their social media to select a name for the female (SN114). The name Zena, which means precisely ‘Genoa’ in the local dialect, was chosen.  When the killer whales left the Geonese port, their movements maintained a strong public attention thanks to the hopefulness to see them taking their way back to the Icelandic waters. The Italian public followed their progress, recording sightings and submitting updates and pictures, giving a great example of how science can benefit from an asset like citizen science, by getting citizens and enthusiasts engaged through the involvement in this irregular occurrence.   In January, orcas were spotted in different areas of Italy, from north to south, but the adverse weather conditions prevented local researchers from getting pictures until a huge black fin was spotted in another far and unexpected area of the Mediterranean Sea.  On the 10th of February, sadly, a dead killer whale was found on the shore of Sarafand in Lebanon. Speculations were made as to which member of the

The DMAD team recorded three strandings which were covered by the media over the last week. These incidents took place in completely different locations (Izmit, Kuşadası, Fatsa) which is potentially concerning as evidence of anthropogenic threat spread from the Black Sea to the Aegean.  Due to the excessive decay of the dolpin discovered at Izmit on May 1st, it was impossible to identify the species, however, we were able to determine that it was a calf. Cause of death is unknown, however, İzmit is a city that despite being home to multiple Natioanl Parks, has uncontrolled industry which has lead to high levels of pollution. Although the species of the dolphin stranded in Aydın Kuşadası on the 4th of May again was unclear, it was received by Adnan Menderes University Veterinary Faculty for necropsy. The last stranding case occured on the morning of 6th of May in the Fatsa district of Ordu. Footage of local residents attempting to save the short-beaked common dolphin was captured on camera. Although the intentions were good, the lack of knowledge on how to rescue stranded dolphins unfortunatley meant that the actions taken (releasing the dolphin into water from a high platform and leaving it in deepwater after carring it with a sack) actually put the stranded dolphin at more risk. “Citizens, seeing a dolphin stranded on the beach, kept it alive by putting it in a sack and leaving it in deep water.” It is rather clear from the news and the video that people gathered to help and made a plan on how to best return the dolphin to the sea. However, there is an unfortunate lack of knowledge that need to be tackled. Although efforts to help dolphin are always appreciated, we the people working in marine sciences, cannot ignore our obligation to inform and correct them. Dolphins may strand for various reasons that include but are not limited to; sickness, damage to organs, loss of orientation due to excessive and impulsive underwater noise caused by sonar and seismic studies or, a calf starving as a result of getting seperated from its mother. If a healthy individual has stranded then it has a chance of successfully returning to the sea. However, during this rescue it is important to be careful to return the animal to the sea without causing any more physical and mental stress, as this will increase the chances of survival. The best action to take is to reach for experts such as the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (tudav.org) in order to protect both the animal and yourself using information provided by the experts.If a live dolphin or a whale stranded on the shore is encountered, expert teams and a local veterinarian should be contacted immediately. Until the expert team arrives, the animal should be covered with a thin and light cloth soaked in sea water if the dolphin is exposed direct sunlight. It is crucial that the blowhole located on top of the animal is not covered so that the animal can breathe. The cloth needs to be wet as long as the animal is on land. The most critical factor is to stay away from the already stressed animal as much as possible in order to avoid causing more stress.

The discussions forming around Covid-19 and the potential involvement of animal trafficking as a root cause have the potential to herald significant benefits for the protection of wildlife worldwide. However the conservation sector, like many others, is taking a hit from the global pandemic. Research assistant Phoebe Thorpe writes… I am sure most of you are now very much aware of the current Covid-19 pandemic. But what does that mean for wildlife conservation projects? For our research efforts here at DMAD, the new coronavirus has caused a few setbacks. We had to make the tough decision to send our wonderful volunteers and interns in Montenegro back to their home countries. It is no longer feasible nor safe for us to carry out surveys. The majority of wildlife projects, just like ours, have had to make the same sacrifices.  There are a huge number of organisations, ours included, that are funded in some way by contributions from volunteers and interns who come to support the research of the project and learn from their teams. Many of these are now having to ask for online donations so that their projects can survive. Whereas DMAD’s project focuses day-to-day on data collection of wild animals, numerous wildlife projects protect semi-wild or rescued animals that still need to be cared for despite funding shortages and global pandemics. An example of this is projects seeking to protect Asian elephants, who must try to fundraise in order to have enough money to care for the animals. BBC News has published an article discussing the fate of Thai elephants at this time. In the article they interview Kerri McCrea, who is cofounder of Kindred Spirits Elephant Sanctuary. She explains how she and the villagers not only care for the project’s elephants, but also over 70 others that have been brought from tourist camps in the cities to their village. At first glance it does seem like great news that the elephants are out of captivity, but this puts a lot of strain on the organisation in terms of care, resources, and money. Elephant sanctuaries and other projects caring for wildlife will be amongst the hardest hit by funding cuts during covid Other news stories which have hit headlines about Covid-19 and wildlife are the discussions around the ban of wildlife trafficking and live animal markets. Shenzhen is the first Chinese city to ban cat and dog markets. The pandemic has brought tragedy with the loss of lives, yet we can look at these stories with the view point that there is some light coming out of Covid-19 and that we can celebrate these little wins for wildlife. Chris Packham expressed his concern to the BBC that amidst the talk and chaos of Covid-19 we may lose momentum in fighting long term issues such as climate change and loss of biodiversity. Here at DMAD we share a similar worry and so we have made sure we are doing all we can to conserve our planet. Our founder and managers have been catching up with data analysis, reading and writing scientific reports, and creating online software training lessons for our interns. Our interns are still advancing their skills in software, reading up on key marine mammal articles and reports, and practicing how they would carry out their own project all from the comfort of home. We also want all of you to know that you can still contribute to helping wildlife from home. Here are a number of suggestions from the DMAD team!  Take an online course in scientific computer software   Get involved with projects looking for help in identifying species remotely Listen to podcasts  Watch documentaries  Read articles, books and blogs  Approach projects to see if you can help with their social media and websites Pick up litter on your walks Use eco-friendly cleanering products, recycle, create less food and packaging waste  Talk to people and spread your knowledge about how to help the environment (preferebaly online or from a safe social distance…!)  We hope that this post has brough a little insight into how Covid-19 has affected wildlife conservation projects, and that even during an uncertain time there are some good news stories and that you know that you can still make an impact on helping the environment from home! For some further inspiration on how to get involved from #quarantine, have a look at The Jane Goodall Institue and ConservationTraining.org, and stay up to date with our social media where we’ll be posting further ideas from our interns! 

Hi, I’m Myrthe. I am 20 years old and study biology in Almere, The Netherlands!  As I’m currently in my third year I needed to find an internship abroad for my studies. I always have been very passionate about nature and animals in particular, which is why I want to protect them and pursue a career in animal conservation. So far, I have done various projects like butterfly and reptile surveys in the Netherlands.    I have no experience (yet!) with marine biology but because I always have been interested in sea mammals, I wanted to find an internship that focuses on cetaceans to learn more about them and to see if it’s a field I would like to work in after I graduate. Also, I wanted to improve my research skills and get more experience with fieldwork.  I am very excited to join DMAD and the MDR project because, not only will I learn a lot about cetaceans and marine biology, I will also get to stay in a beautiful country and meet new people from different countries and cultures. I think this internship will be quite the adventure, living in a country I have never been before, the road trips for land and boat surveys and of course discovering Montenegro on days off! To learn more about our internships and volunteering opportunities click here and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for regular updates from our research teams!