Why do dolphins die in the Black Sea? Scientists considered the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea to be a threat to the population Scientists considered the mass death of dolphins to be a threat to the population in the Black Sea.

Dead dolphins are regularly found on the beaches of the Black and Azov Seas, but in 2017 there are so many of them that it attracted increased public attention - zoologists and simple vacationers found a total of more than 200 individuals per season. Yuga.ru figured out why so many dolphins died this year and how many of them are in Black and Seas of Azov.

Only from April 1 to May 1, 68 dolphins died in the Black Sea, the Azov-Black Sea Environmental Prosecutor's Office informs about this. In June, vacationers found dead dolphins on the popular Vysokiy Bereg beach in Anapa, which social media users believe had lain there for several days.

“We have municipal beaches and those that are operated by tenants. They themselves must conclude an agreement with a specialized organization that exports dolphins. Apparently these dolphins ended up on the beach during the storm we had two days ago», - told in the mayor's office of Anapa.

• Abkhaz scientists suggested that the navy was the cause of the death of the mammals.
• The prosecutor's office linked the death of dolphins with negative impact sonar and acoustic equipment installed in the Novorossiysk area, pollution of the water area, as well as infection with helminths.

Three species of dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas - bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and azovs(they are also called porpoises). Bottlenose dolphins are the most common, they are also found in warm and temperate waters of the World Ocean, for example, in the Baltic Sea, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Red Sea. How many bottlenose dolphins live in all the seas and oceans is not known for certain, but there is evidence that there are at least 67 thousand individuals in the Gulf of Mexico, in the northwestern part Pacific Ocean- about 35 thousand, in the Mediterranean Sea - about 7 thousand individuals. Bottlenose dolphins are listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and in the Red Book of Russia.

“The number of bottlenose dolphins in the Black Sea is sharply declining, which is especially noticeable compared to the pre-war period, when there were approximately 0.5-1 million dolphins of all kinds here., - indicated in the Red Book of Russia. — By May 1977, according to aerial records, total strength dolphins reached only 140 thousand, of which 36 thousand accounted for bottlenose dolphins. Ten years later, a route count from ships showed a decrease in the number of all dolphins to 113 thousand, and bottlenose dolphins - to 7 thousand, i.e. more than five times.

Fishing in the Black Sea was stopped by all countries. In Russia, the ban has been in effect since 1966; Turkey was the last to stop catching dolphins in 1983. But, unfortunately, after that, the dolphin population did not stop declining.

head of the Caucasian branch of WWF

“How many dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas, no one knows for sure. The fact is that there is no systematic monitoring of the number, and the expert assessment gives a rather wide spread - the data varies from several thousand to 140 thousand individuals, - Valery Shmunk told the Yuga.ru portal. “Oddly enough, we know quite a bit about how the Black Sea dolphins use the water area, what their migration routes are and whether they exist at all - according to some reports, there are several sedentary groups of dolphins. These questions require research.

All three species of our dolphins are listed in various Red Books and the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is difficult to say why we know so little about the state of their populations. Perhaps because they were not of interest to the fishery and only scientists were interested in their biology. But the capabilities of scientific organizations, as a rule, are limited, and to conduct large-scale accounting, systematicity is needed (observations should take place every year, preferably at the same time), several aircraft, ships, and, most importantly, experienced specialists who are able to or from the surface of the water to identify animals and count them, which is very difficult. All this is quite problematic from the point of view of the organization.

It is too early to say that dolphins in the Black and Azov Seas are close to extinction

It is too early to say that dolphins in the Black and Azov Seas are close to extinction. In any case, with regard to bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins, they seem to feel quite comfortable and cause the least concern. Azovka is in the most vulnerable position; this species more often than others gets into fishing nets.

Scientists don't know exactly why cetaceans wash ashore. Many say that this is a navigation error, someone associates this with the activity of hydroacoustic devices, there are different opinions. In my opinion, the main problem in our conditions is that there is no clear understanding of the state of the dolphin populations of the Black and Azov Seas, and therefore we are in captivity of conjecture. In areas where marine mammals live, there should be a network of trained observers ashore who could signal where the release of corpses or mass deaths occurred, and possibly take samples for research. Now there is none of that."

Leading Engineer, IPEE RAS, Deputy Chairman of the Marine Mammal Council, Moscow

Leading engineer of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after A.N. Severtsov RAS (Moscow), Deputy Chairman public organization The Council on Marine Mammals told the journalist Yuga.ru about the reasons for the death of dolphins:

“Dead dolphins and whales are found on beaches around the world. The final stage of life is death, the animal dies, the corpse may float up and be washed ashore. In addition, marine mammals are quite large, and it is difficult not to notice when they are on the shore. Dolphins of the Black Sea in this respect do not differ from relatives from other water bodies.

The carcasses of dolphins on the coast are not at all something extraordinary, but this year the number of dead animals is unusual. Why did this happen, the environmental prosecutor's office found out Krasnodar Territory and our colleagues from the Utrishsky Reserve, at biological stations in the Crimea, Georgia and Ukraine. But the cause could not be determined.

Most often, dolphins die near the coast due to the fact that they become entangled in fishing nets - they suffocate and drown. Fishermen cut off the fins of the dead dolphins to make it easier to remove them from the nets. It is easy to understand that a dolphin died in the nets: there are no fins on the body and there are traces of ropes. Corpses with such marks from the nets are a relatively normal situation for the Black Sea coast.

This year, there are no visible marks on the vast majority of corpses, and it has been suggested that the animals died from an infection.

This year, there are no visible marks on the vast majority of corpses, and it has been suggested that the animals died from an infection. For a qualitative determination of the presence of infectious diseases, samples can only be taken from fresh corpses, otherwise it is extremely difficult to detect that animals are infected. Several dolphins were found on the Utrish Peninsula, from which we managed to take samples - we did not find known infections, but this does not guarantee that there were none. Of course, there are errors in every method. In addition, the causative agents of the infection could change - mutate in such a way that it is difficult to detect it with standard research methods.

The reasons for the death of dolphins may be different: water or food pollution caused by man-made processes - construction, transportation of goods. I was asked if it is possible that the dolphins suffered because of the construction of the Crimean bridge. But after all, corpses were found on the entire coast of the Caucasus, Crimea, Georgia and Ukraine, and not just in the zone of influence of the construction site. It seems to me that more global cause could cause such a death than building a bridge or laying a pipe for a gas pipeline.

The working version is that the dolphins are dying due to a modification of the virus that we have not been able to isolate and identify at the moment.”

According to Dmitry Glazov, there are no exact data on the abundance of all three dolphin species in the Black Sea. Large-scale surveys have not been carried out since the 1980s. Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution. A.N. Severtsov RAS conducted regular studies of the Black Sea dolphins in the late 90s - early 2000s. Researchers walked along the coast and recorded the number of dead animals, collected pollution data, and carried out local counts along the coast. According to various estimates, more than 200 dead dolphins have now been found on the Caucasian coast alone, which is many times more than it was in the years when the Institute of Ecological Problems conducted research.

In total, there are several cases associated with the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea - 1989-1990, 2002 and 2012-2013. The reasons were different, including a massive infection with helminths that developed in the inner ear of azovs - they lost their orientation and died. In the 90s, the case was associated with a viral infection, which was actively spread through water and airborne droplets. Then not only wild individuals suffered, but also animals in dolphinariums. This year, the case is celebrated on the Black Sea coast not only in Russia, but also in Georgia, on

About 11 dead dolphins were found on the coast of Yevpatoriya, in the area of ​​the Simferopol-Yevpatoria highway and in the area of ​​the Morskoye village.

The exact causes of the incident are still unknown. This could be due to human intervention, but scientists do not exclude that the dolphins themselves washed ashore. According to them, when the leader is injured, he is thrown ashore and the whole flock follows him. In this way animals become victims of their social structure.

It is noted that the distance between the dead dolphins is several hundred meters. It is also likely that a storm could have caused the mass death of animals, one of the reasons for the death of dolphins could be some kind of epidemic, because dolphins, especially Azovians, are very sensitive to environment, and to diseases.

Dead dolphins are regularly found on the beaches of the Black and Azov seas, but there are so many in 2017 that it attracted increased public attention - zoologists and ordinary vacationers found a total of 428 dolphins. Dolphin emissions traditionally peak for spring and summer,a large number of dead dolphins were found near Sevastopol.

Assumptions are made. what the death of dolphins is associated with the negative impact of sonars and acoustic equipment, installed on ships in Sevastopol and Novorossiysk, as well as pollution of the water area, infection of dolphins with helminths.

Early this year 4 dead bottlenose dolphins, 4 azovs and 2 white barrels were found on the shore. One dolphin was found in the Sudak region, 3 in Feodosiya, 1 in Yalta, 4 in the Sevastopol region and 1 near Evpatoria. The bottlenose dolphin showed signs of falling into fishing gear - the tail fin was cut off. Two more dolphins were noted to have serious signs of exhaustion they probably died as a result of the disease. The remaining bodies were at the stage of decomposition, which made it impossible to visually determine possible cause death. Most of the animals found were adults, there were no cubs among them. Experts suggest that a sharp jump in dolphin deaths with subsequent peak values ​​is expected in late March - early April and until the end of July.

Among the causes of death of dolphins are deaths in nets, viruses, diseases, severe storms. and starvation. For example, white-barreled dolphins in Balaklava in In search of food, they swim very close to the shore and even beg for food from people.

And in 2018, the unthinkable happened. –in winter and spring months there was no annual seasonal migration fish for which the dolphins come. The animals had to starve.

The health of dolphins is also badly affected by the state of the sea - in the subcutaneous fat of dead dolphins, a high concentration of pesticides eaten with fish is found. Toxins have a particularly strong effect on the body during weight loss of a mammal, and there is pesticide poisoning of dolphins.

Marine biologists do not exclude the presence of other reasons that have yet to be clarified. Now biologists are collecting signatures so that their initiative on the prohibition of the use of flounder and katra nets, not visible to dolphins, has been considered at the state level.

Three species of dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas - bottlenose dolphins, white flanks and azovs. The Red Book of Russia states: " Number of bottlenose dolphins in the Black Sea sharply reduced, which is especially noticeable compared to the pre-war period, when dolphins of all kinds in the sea were about 0.5–1 million head . By May 1977 year, according to aerial records, the total number of dolphins reached 140 thousand, of which 36 thousand bottlenose dolphins. Conducted ten years later, route accounting from ships showed a decrease the number of all dolphins is up to 113 thousand, and bottlenose dolphins - up to 7 thousand, i.e. more than five times .

In Russia, the ban on fishing for dolphins in the Black Sea has been in effect since 1966, all Black Sea countries have stopped fishing, the last one refused to catch dolphins Turkey in 1983. Unfortunately, after the ban on dolphin fishing, the dolphin population in the Black Sea did not stop declining.

How many dolphins live in the Black and Azov Seas, no one knows for sure. The fact is that systematic monitoring of the population is not carried out, and expert assessment gives a rather large spread - the data varies from several thousand up to 140 thousand individuals. Oddly enough, we know quite a bit about how the Black Sea dolphins use the water area, what their migration routes are and whether they exist at all - according to some reports, there are several sedentary groups of dolphins. These questions require research.

All three species of our dolphins are listed in the Red Book of Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is difficult to say why we know so little about the state of the dolphin population. Perhaps because they were not of interest to the fishery and only scientists were interested in their biology. Unfortunately, the capabilities of scientific organizations are usually limited, and to conduct a large-scale census of the dolphin population, systematic observation is needed, it is necessary every year, preferably at the same time, to observe the behavior of dolphins in the sea, several aircraft, ships and, most importantly, , experienced specialists who are able to identify animals from the air or from the surface of the water and count them, which is very difficult. All this is quite problematic from the point of view of the organization.

❗Attention! Witnesses to the death or misconduct against dolphins should contact Rosprirodnadzor at 8-978-905-88-44.

In order to remove the corpse of a dolphin thrown ashore, you should call on the hotline 1563 Unified City Duty Dispatch Service.

❗In case of finding a dead or live dolphin on the shore in the Crimea, please report by numbers:
+79780326852
+79164090148

Scientists consider the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea a threat to the population

To identify the causes of the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea, numerous analyzes, prompt autopsy of the bodies of animals, as well as a study of their food supply are needed, environmentalists and zoologists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" said, noting that there is no exact data on the number of dead dolphins.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 3, the environmental prosecutor's office reported the discovery of 68 dead dolphins in the Black Sea within the borders of Novorossiysk. Experts named several versions of the death of animals, including water pollution and an unexplored virus. On June 27, the prosecutor of the Krasnodar Territory, Sergey Tabelsky, stated that in Krasnodar Territory the death of 167 dolphins has already been recorded, noting that the causes of the mass death of animals have not yet been determined.

"Scientists have established that the death of animals did not occur in coastal waters Black Sea"

The exact cause of the death of dolphins in the Black Sea could not be identified by the experts contacted by the Azovo-Chernomorsky Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office, a representative of the press service told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent prosecutor's office.

At the same time, scientists have established that the death of animals did not occur in the coastal waters of the Black Sea, their bodies are simply washed ashore, the representative of the press service of the Azov-Chernomorsk interdistrict environmental prosecutor's office explained.

"To determine the exact cause of the death of dolphins, an integrated approach is needed"

As long as there is no system for collecting analyses, it will be impossible to determine the causes of the death of Black Sea dolphins, the leading engineer of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after V.I. A.N. Severtsov RAS Dmitry Glazov.

According to him, the dead animal must be opened very quickly, after long stay in the water or on the beach the corpse of a dolphin clinical picture lubricated.

To determine that the animal died from the disease, it is also necessary to quickly collect samples and analyze them in different laboratories, Glazov noted.

In his opinion, pollution of the Black Sea can also be the cause of death, since dolphins are sensitive to heavy metals and organic discharges into the sea - meaning sewage.

“But this, again, needs to be analyzed. This is expensive, no one is doing this and is not going to. In theory, this is the work of institutions that are engaged in resource research on the coast, this should be their interest,” Glazov believes.

He also noted that the Black Sea dolphins are Red Book species and the problem of their death should be dealt with by Rosprirodnadzor.

"Until there is some kind of system for collecting tests, it will be impossible to find out the causes of death," the scientist noted, recalling that similar situation was in 2008 in the Caspian Sea, where seals died en masse.

According to him, the state authorities then could not establish the cause. "Only thanks to the fact that Greenpeace then went there and systematically took samples, and then analyzed it, it was possible to find out that the cause of death was the plague of carnivores. But it was their good will", - said Glazov.

"In the Black Sea, dolphins have not been counted for 35-40 years"

The death of animals is a threat to the entire population, while no one can name the exact number of this species. marine mammals in the Black Sea, so the extent of the problem is not known, Glazov said.

"In the Black Sea, dolphins have not been counted for 35-40 years, few people know what is happening in the sea," Glazov noted.

In addition, according to him, no one knows the exact number of dead dolphins.
“No one keeps records of body emissions either, they just come across to someone on the beach, and there was no purposeful record of death. There is no such service, there is no responsible person who would fix it,” says the scientist.

According to him, the bodies of dolphins from private beaches are disposed of by special farms with which an agreement was concluded, information about these animals is not sent to the prosecutor's office.

“How many of them, where they were thrown away, what types, are there traces of nets, some ropes or bullets. After all, no one fixes this. There is no system,” Glazov said.

"Such a mass death of dolphins could happen due to infection"

To investigate the mass death of dolphins in the Black Sea, it is not enough to examine only the corpses of animals, such a mass kill could only happen due to infection, said a zoologist, a member of the Ecological Watch for North Caucasus", former employee of the Gelendzhik Dolphinarium Konstantin Andramonov.

"It is necessary to investigate in a complex, including the food base of dolphins, possibly the source of infection in the food chain of animals. They feed on plankton, mollusks and fish," Konstantin Andramonov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"No dead dolphins were found in the marine area of ​​the Utrish nature reserve"

No dead dolphins were found in the sea area, which is part of the reserve, which is 783 hectares, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by the Deputy Director for Science of the State nature reserve"Utrish" Olga Bykhalova.

“Now we are keeping a daily record of dolphins, which involves a certain period, then there will be an analysis to determine specifically by individuals, what species, what number. These are migratory animals, it is difficult to count them,” Bykhalova said.

According to her information, there are three types of dolphins in the Black Sea: Azovka, it is also called Harbour porpoise- the smallest dolphin, the common dolphin and the bottlenose dolphin - the largest Black Sea dolphin, they all have conservation status and listed in the Red Book.

"The fact that so many of them die is always alarming, but it suggests that the problem needs to be comprehensively investigated," Bykhalova said.

Recall that earlier the Azov-Chernomorsk environmental prosecutor's office announced that there was no version of poisoning of dolphins with oil products, since no traces of them were found on the bodies of the dead animals.

Cases of the death of dolphins, which are considered one of the most intelligent mammals on Earth, were regularly recorded at the end of this spring and summer. Animals were found almost along the entire coast of the Krasnodar Territory, but most often this happened in large coastal cities, where the corpse of a dolphin cannot remain unnoticed by anyone. Big role dissemination of information about such finds is played by messages in in social networks, even if not all of their authors care about the fate of the dolphins themselves. For example, recently one of the residents of Anapa complained that children receive " psychological trauma» at the sight of carcasses floating in the water. He complained that local services were in no hurry to clean them up.

Corpses on the beach

Some tried to explain what was happening with natural factors. Like, this is observed every year and is to blame for everything natural selection, as a result of which unborn females, aging and sick dolphins often die. This happens, but it certainly cannot explain all the deaths of animals this year. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of May the Azovo-Chernomorsk interdistrict environmental prosecutor's office began an inspection. The official statement from the department said that the reason for it was the discovery in the Novorossiysk region of 68 dead dolphins in just one month.

Based on rumors and some news, someone could well decide that animal corpses were found almost dozens at a time. You can also think that they themselves washed ashore, as sometimes happens with marine mammals.

“You need to understand that there were no mass cases of death of dolphins,” says Azovo-Chernomorsky Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor Maxim Cherny. - That is, twenty dead animals were not found anywhere at once. Basically, no more than one or two corpses were washed ashore in one place. But even in such cases, it was found that the death of animals occurred at sea in different time, and after it they were in the water from one to six weeks.

There is no exact answer

As part of the prosecutor's check, a whole range of control and supervisory measures was carried out aimed at clarifying the causes of what was happening. It included laboratory research, including sanitary and epidemiological quality control sea ​​water. Her condition needed to be clarified first of all in order to exclude a possible danger to people.

“Rospotrebnadzor employees took and thoroughly examined about a thousand samples,” Maxim Cherny continues. - As a result, they confirmed the full compliance of sea water quality established standards. The main and main thing is that there is no threat to humans. Minor excesses of suspended particles were recorded only in places such as ports, which in principle are not intended for recreation and swimming.

A more difficult task was the study of the remains of animals. The fact is that basically dolphins were washed ashore already in a state of strong decomposition, and they were not suitable for research. The few remains that were suitable for this were placed in freezers and quickly delivered to a specialized veterinary institution. As a result, experts studied the condition of the bodies of five animals, on the basis of which certain conclusions were drawn.

In the Kuban, mainly Azov dolphins die - this species of dolphins is highly susceptible infectious diseases. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

It's time to act

Many dead animals are found on the coast this year Crimean peninsula. There, a team of like-minded people called Serene Sea is very actively dealing with this problem. This is a group of scientists, ecologists and people who are simply in love with the sea, studying different aspects of the life of dolphins. And his main task they consider them a defense, as the topic has been relevant for several decades now.

“All three species of Black Sea dolphins are in the Red Book, and two of them are under threat. complete disappearance, - tells Serene Sea participant, biologist and member of the Marine Mammal Council Irina Logominova. - At the same time, no one has up-to-date information about their number. Accounting is not kept and everyone calls different numbers - whoever wants to. But what is clear is that Negative influence on these animals is enhanced. This year we are receiving more reports of dead dolphins than in the past. There are real concerns about their survival."

An illustrative example is the white barrel. According to Irina Logominova, a hundred years ago, the Black Sea was considered the world record holder in terms of the number of individuals of this species of dolphins. Their account went into the millions. Today, there are only a few thousand white flanks left. At the same time, they are increasingly seen near the coast, although these animals by nature prefer the open sea. It can be assumed that they are forced to do this due to a decrease in the number of fish. Although the common dolphin is still in a better position than Azov and bottlenose dolphins.

Irina Logominova believes that a whole range of measures is urgently needed, including changing the rules of fishing, modernizing treatment facilities, the introduction of serious restrictions on human activities in the local habitats of dolphins. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

In the Crimea, as well as in the Kuban, now mainly Azovs are dying. This species of dolphins is very susceptible to infectious diseases, the most dangerous of which is the cetacean morbillivirus. Perhaps it was he who was found in those two animals, which are mentioned above. In some years, entire epidemics occurred, due to which thousands of individuals died. But in any case, it must be recognized that even this is the result of human activity.

“Morbillivirus arose as a result of a mutation of the virus of measles and distemper cattle- continues Irina Logominova. - And all this penetrated into the Black Sea due to its pollution with sewage. In all dolphins, this virus is present in the blood, and when the body is weakened, the disease develops. From it, animals die very quickly and in terrible agony. The organism can overcome the infection only if it is healthy, which also largely depends on the environment.”

According to the Crimean biologist, many dolphins are dying due to fishing. Most often, animals simply get entangled in nets and drown. At the same time, in recent times the situation has noticeably worsened due to easier conditions for obtaining fishing quotas and other permits. The military and tourists also play a negative role. Irina Logominova believes that a whole range of measures is urgently needed, including changing the rules of fishing, modernizing treatment facilities, and introducing serious restrictions on human activities in the local habitats of dolphins. And without all this, no one will guarantee that in a few decades it will still be possible to see a live dolphin in the Black Sea.

Not so long ago in Novorossiysk it was recorded a large number of dead dolphins, now the carcasses of dead mammals began to appear in Abkhazia.

Over the past month, four cases of dolphin deaths were recorded in Abkhazia. Why dolphins die in the Black Sea, Sputnik correspondent Vladimir Begunov was told by Murman Solomko, deputy chairman of the State Committee for Ecology and Nature Protection of Abkhazia, and Roman Dbar, director of the ANA Institute of Ecology.

According to the chairman of the State Committee for Ecology and Nature Protection of Abkhazia, this year the experts managed only one dolphin. The bodies of other mammals were not found.

Apparently they were carried away by the sea, the newspaper writes.

The only dead dolphin that was still able to be examined was without physical injuries. According to Solomko, it was a baby dolphin that died of a broken heart, clinging to a fishing net.

Cases of mass death of marine mammals, according to Murman Solomko, are due to the fact that dolphins lose their orientation in space during storms, they get motion sick, and they are washed ashore, believing that they are swimming towards the sea, Sputnik writes.

According to the director of the Institute of Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of Abkhazia, the mass death of dolphins in Novorossiysk is connected with the navy.

Nothing but navy, cannot lead to so many deaths of dolphins, Sputnik quotes the words of Roman Dbar. - The military on ships and submarines use powerful ultrasonic equipment, from which dolphins in literally go crazy and throw themselves ashore, not understanding anything.

According to the scientist, many mammals die because of fishing nets. Entangled in nets, they lose the ability to breathe air and die.

These dolphins are easy to identify because they have a cut fin on their backs, says Dbar.

The fact is that fishermen, when they see a dead dolphin in the nets, do not waste time on extricating the dolphin. They simply cut off the fin and throw the carcass into the sea.

According to the scientist, of the three species of Black Sea dolphins, the Azovka most often gets into the net. The common dolphin gets entangled in the nets extremely rarely, the bottlenose dolphin almost never.

- Firstly, these two species are found at great depths, and secondly, and this is the main thing, the common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin have a different level and frequency of the echolocation signal, they can recognize nets, but the coastal azovka cannot.

Previously "Live Kuban" that almost 70 dolphins died in Novorossiysk from April to May. All carcasses were found within the boundaries of the city of Novorossiysk. By this fact The Azovo-Chernomorsk Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office organized an inspection. However, there are still no official versions. The exact causes of the death of mammals have not yet been established.