On a pleasant morning on the 23rd of May, a local diver, Dusan Varda who is the founder of 'MedCEM' was diving at Slovenska Beach of Budva in Montenegro when he stumbled upon an unsettling scene. On approaching closer, he realized that there was a mutilated head of a juvenile bottlenose dolphin washed up at the Slovenska plaža. SANCET team was informed about this possible stranding by Dusan immediately. Reasons for strandings are yet to be unravelled.
This is the second dolphin carcass encountered on the Montenegrin coast and that has been recorded by SANCET (DMAD). Stranding reports emphasize the inevitably increasing temperatures due to climate change which disrupts marine ecosystems in different aspects and increasing distress to marine mammals due to various anthropogenic pollutions especially noise pollution. Noise pollution which is transmitted by various vessels of fishing industries, seismic explorations, and navy sonars may disorient the navigational systems of cetaceans leading them into shallow waters and eventually stranding them on the beach. Other reasons that describe the cause of strandings are injuries due to being caught by by-catch or propellers of boats and ships, entanglement in fishing nets, ingestion of various plastic trash, and diseases due to different viruses and parasites. In case of any encounters live or dear along the southern Adriatic Sea, can be immediately reported through our stranding network, SANCET.
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