War in Ukraine linked to over 120,000 dolphin deaths in Black Sea

The Al Jazeera report says more than 120,000 dolphins have died in the Black Sea since Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ivan Rusev, head researcher at the Tuzly Lagoons national park in southern Ukraine, told the outlet that around 50,000 dolphins perished in 2022 alone and the total number is expected to exceed 120,000 by 2026 – roughly one in four cetaceans in the sea.

Local fishers and poachers frequently find suffocated dolphins tangled in their nets, cutting off the fins before discarding the bodies. Many carcasses wash ashore with net marks, while others appear emaciated, indicating starvation.

Rusev attributes the mass mortality to a combination of war‑related factors: explosions, cruise‑missile launches, naval sonar and the presence of naval mines that disrupt echolocation, the dolphins’ primary means of navigation and hunting. The animals are forced to consume polluted blubber, exposing them to wastewater, agricultural runoff, micro‑plastics and antibiotics, which weakens their immune systems and leads to fatal morbillivirus infections.

The ecological impact is compounded by chemical contamination from munitions, oil spills and the 2023 destruction of the Kakhovka dam, which released water laden with fertiliser runoff, heavy metals and machine oil. Fish stocks such as mullet and bluefish have become scarce, further threatening the food chain.

Environmental groups in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkiye have reported similar spikes in dolphin deaths, although the exact causes are often difficult to determine due to advanced decomposition of the carcasses. Russian monitors have blamed parasites and viruses, but offered no detailed evidence.

The widespread loss of apex predators is seen as a severe blow to the Black Sea’s already fragile ecosystem.

Source: Al Jazeera. Photo: Siarhei Nester / Pexels.