The Day learned about the sanctuary project from Oleksandr Zhbanov, the research director of the Sevastopol Dolphinarium in Artillery Bay. The project calls for ban on fishing in the Black Sea area from Cape Sarych to Cape Fiolent between October and April. As explained by the research director, these months see mass arrival of dolphins, mostly of the bottlenose variety, to the shores of Sevastopol, where these mammals form families and reproduce. “They are attracted by abundant fish stocks here, but there must be some other attractions, unknown to science as of yet, for dolphins to frequent the local waters.” According to Zhbanov, the marine mammals often fall into fishing nets and then cannot escape on their own.
To preserve the dolphin population, experts from the Brehm Laboratory, the Kara Dag Nature Reserve, the Yevpatoria Dolphinarium, the Sevastopol Dolphinarium in Artillery Bay, and the International NGO “Black Sea Council for Marine Mammals” drafted restrictions on human economic activities in the Black Sea area from Cape Sarych to Cape Fiolent in winter, when the dolphins come to the shores of Sevastopol. The scientists’ main objective is to create a comfortable environment for marine mammals to live in. “The Ministry of Environment reacted positively to the idea, and we now wait for the relevant decree to be passed by the Cabinet,” Zhbanov noted.
