Laura sharing her survey impressions  It was not my day! I had a morning survey that started at 5.45 after a really bad night. So you can imagine that I was not really looking forward to that. However, the chance to see some dolphins, gets me excited even that day. After that survey, I was so dead that I really really needed a nap. I fell into my bed and fell asleep. Of course I was not that lucky, after 20 minutes, Claudia came to my room, waking me up to tell that we would go on boat survey at 12. Chill, I can still nap a little then. 10 minutes later, she was there again, now we would leave at 11. No time for napping anymore. Later, we arrived at the boat, ready to see dolphins, although I was still a little tired. On the boat, Selina realized we were actually out of petrol. Well, that was exciting to say the least. With a very low and constant speed we navigated to the gas station, praying that we would reach it in time. Luck was at our side that afternoon, not only that we reached the gas station without to swim to there, but also that we saw dolphins! Oh, I love seeing dolphins! Every time, my heart skips a beat. Their beauty and elegance are mesmerizing. Although I’m still working on my photography and spotting skills (I am not so good at seeing them), I love to take pictures of them. My day started as a nightmare but ended in a dream.

ACCOBAMS’ 5th Conference on Cetacean Conservation for South Mediterranean Countries We joined an online conference by the ACCOBAMS 5th Conference on the Conservation of Marine Mammals for Southern Mediterranean Countries yesterday. In the online presentation, the details of our work, which has been going on since 2018, were shared. Our Founder and Scientific Director, Dr Aylin Akkaya shared, obtained datas about our research in the Eastern Mediterranean and the anthropogenic effects on marine mammals in her presentation.

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