The Black and Azov Seas are home to three species of dolphins, each suffering in its own way due to russian aggression. What do we already know about how military actions affect them, and how can we help nature endure? Pavlo Holdin, a zoologist, ecologist, and expert on modern and extinct marine mammals, sheds light on these issues.

Currently, there are many conflicting reports regarding the number of dolphins killed since the full-scale invasion began. Some say 50,000, others mention 60,000 or more, while some believe these numbers are exaggerated. What do you think?

Any number mentioned right now—whether it is 10 dolphins or 100,000—has no scientific basis whatsoever. In 2019, Ukrainian researchers conducted an extensive aerial survey of the Black Sea. After the war, after our victory, we can fly again and cover all our waters, including those around Crimea. That will give us an idea of where dolphin populations have increased or decreased and how many remain in total, and then we can assess how many may have died. 

Until then, I believe it is premature to draw definitive conclusions. For now, the figures we [the Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of Sea] provide relate to the bodies of animals found onshore. Of course, this assessment can and should be supplemented in the future with ecological modeling and extrapolated to estimate total losses.

So, what confirmed data do we have?

In 2022, more than 900 cases of dolphin deaths were recorded in the Black Sea region. This includes Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia. Naturally, this does not cover all the incidents, but it is a starting point for analysis and modeling. 

It is also important to note that we only work with verified photos and video recordings of deceased dolphins. Whenever we receive such materials, we verify them to ensure they are not fake, as media reports have sometimes falsely claimed sightings of dead dolphins that turned out to be from different locations or times.

Can I assume that such disinformation, especially if coming from russians, aims to undermine and discredit ecocide documentation efforts?

I do not know. But if we look at the official russian discourse, they try to downplay the scale of the deaths and claim nothing is happening, even when a dolphin carcass washes ashore in the center of Sevastopol.

There is a significant difference between their official and unofficial narratives. Their only similarity is that both are lies.

Can we identify an event or series of events that are most likely causing dolphin deaths?

The only cautious conclusion I can make is that the animals are dying for various reasons. It is unlikely we’ll find that all the deaths stem from a single cause. 

To draw an analogy, though it may seem imperfect, let us look at how war affects people. There are direct life-threatening factors, such as bombardment with various weapons. But people also die from heart attacks, strokes, or from not receiving timely medical care, lacking clean water, or from increased infection rates. 

When forensic pathologists examine the deceased, they find various causes of death, but investigators and prosecutors may conclude that the root cause is war.

The same applies to wildlife, including dolphins. There are multiple threats to their lives and health. Missile launches from surface and underwater naval vessels, whether successful or not, pose a danger. A failed missile that crashes into the sea contaminates the dolphins’ environment with rocket fuel. Even a missile that was successfully launched underwater exposes the animals to harmful noise. Speaking of noise pollution, another source is russian radar systems, which also harm marine mammals. Thus, due to the war, animals are suffering from both acoustic trauma and chemical pollution.

Stress is another threat to the animals. And it is not just the dolphins that are stressed; the fish they feed on are too. To put it simply, the fish get scared and move away, and the dolphins follow. This migration into unfamiliar conditions increases the risk of them getting caught in fishing nets.

There is also speculation that dolphins can suffer from concussions even far from combat zones. A recent article in Science suggested that mild concussions might be a possible cause of whale strandings around the world. While we need technologically complex studies to confirm this, it is not something we can rule out as being connected to the war.

The destruction of sewage systems or larger-scale events, such as the russian military’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam, is also dangerous for dolphins. These incidents release large amounts of organic matter into the sea—from agricultural fertilizers to sewage from cities. This raises the risk of infectious diseases and provides the conditions for phenomena like “red tides,” massive algal blooms. Some of these algae release toxins into the sea.

If a dolphin washes ashore in Bulgaria or Georgia, for example, can this also be linked to the war?

Biological and veterinary analyses are needed to confirm that. When we study what is happening to dolphins in the Black Sea, we must consider everything, because there are no state borders for animals. The impact might occur within our economic zone, say, halfway between Snake Island and Crimea, but the aftermath could manifest in Bulgaria or Turkey.

Then, it is important to establish cooperation with other countries to jointly assess the effects of the war on marine animals. Is such cooperation in place, and how does it work?

Yes, cooperation has been established. Colleagues in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia perform autopsies on dead dolphins, conduct laboratory analyses, and share their data and findings with us. 

However, as in Ukraine, the capabilities for such research are limited in all Black Sea countries: no government funds autopsies or analyses. Scientists carry out these studies only when they can and out of their own initiative. 

Considering that dolphin bodies decompose quickly, very few are suitable for autopsy. As a result, the data we receive is quite scarce.

As far as I know, dolphins are at the top of the food chain. How does their death affect the Black Sea ecosystem?

Yes, dolphins are at the top of the food web. We use the term “web” because it is not a single chain but a network of interconnected chains. 

Dolphins are considered keystone species, meaning that top predators like them stabilize entire ecosystems. In the Black Sea, dolphins regulate fish populations, and in turn, fish control the populations of zooplankton, phytoplankton, crustaceans, etc.

So, if dolphins are absent (or too few), fish begin reproducing uncontrollably. When there are too many fish, they deplete zooplankton, and that leads to the unchecked growth of microalgae. The toxins from these algae can kill both zooplankton and fish. In the end, we end up with a sea overrun by algae where little else can survive. 

Moreover, when dolphins die out, their place is often taken by jellyfish or, even worse, comb jellies. There have been cases in history where the mass death of dolphins led to ecological disasters.

In the 80s and 90s, up to 90% of Black Sea dolphins perished. This was caused by the dolphin hunting industry, which thrived until 1983. Around the same time, a species of comb jelly, Mnemiopsis, entered the Black Sea through ballast water. With no competition, it multiplied rapidly—an aggressive spread of an alien species is known scientifically as a bioinvasion. As a result, in the 1990s, Mnemiopsis consumed the eggs of almost all common fish species, and anchovy catches dropped 100 to 200 times by 1991. It was even said the Black Sea could become a dead one.

Ironically, the dolphin population recovered partly due to another bioinvasion, an accidental one at that. In 1997–1999, another species of comb jelly, Beroe, was introduced into the Black Sea, and it fed on Mnemiopsis.

In your opinion, how difficult will it be to restore the dolphin population after the war?

Ukraine is home to various dolphin populations. We have three species: the harbor porpoise, the common dolphin, and the bottlenose dolphin. Each species has its own life cycle, lifespan, reproduction rate, and so forth.

As of now, the common dolphin, is doing relatively well. This species is mostly found in the open sea and stays away from the coast.

On the other hand, the harbor porpoise suffers greatly due to human activity. Although no one hunts it intentionally, it often gets accidentally caught in fishing nets. Each year, 12,000–16,000 porpoises die this way, one of the highest rates in the world. Due to this constant pressure, porpoises reproduce quickly: females give birth almost every year and reach sexual maturity at just three years of age, or perhaps even earlier now.

In contrast, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin reproduces much more slowly, giving birth only once every three years, and reaching sexual maturity at 5–6 years, sometimes even later. This species is listed as endangered and is the largest dolphin in our waters with the smallest population.

Bottlenose dolphins are divided into several local groups. Some groups can be large, numbering in the hundreds, while others are much smaller. For example, near Dzharylhach Island, between 2016 and 2020, we studied a group of fewer than 50 bottlenose dolphins.

Bottlenose dolphins have strong cultural traditions and sophisticated social relationships—they are highly attached to their home territory. If some russian soldiers were to shoot them near Dzharylhach, the dolphins would simply disappear from that area, leaving it desolate for decades.

Therefore, even if we assume that the overall dolphin population in the Black Sea recovers, it does not mean that each small group of bottlenose dolphins will survive. It is entirely possible that while things may look fine in the center of the sea, the situation near the shores—particularly near our shores—will be much worse. And it is crucial to understand this: the bottlenose dolphin population cannot be replenished in captivity. Second-generation offspring simply do not get born in captivity.

Thus, bottlenose dolphins are the most at risk, especially in peripheral areas where fighting occurs, and even in areas without direct combat.

What non-combat measures negatively affect them?

The russians are distorting nature. They do not just destroy dams—they build new ones, and that is bad.

They constructed a causeway between Dzharylhach Island and the occupied mainland of Ukraine. Fortunately, nature took care of it: in 2023, a massive storm washed it away. But that causeway posed a threat to the Dzharylhach Bay ecosystem by blocking the water exchange with the open sea.

As for the Kerch Bridge, it does not just threaten nature—it has already caused harm. 

Firstly, its construction generated severe acoustic pollution, harmful to dolphins.

Secondly, there is now a dam between Tuzla Island and the Caucasian shore, damaging the ecosystem of the Taman Bay and the Kerch Strait, where small herds of bottlenose dolphins live. It also endangers the entire ecosystem of the Sea of Azov, home to a unique population of harbor porpoises.

What can Ukraine do to protect Black Sea marine mammals? How can we at least reduce our own negative impact on them?

Scientists propose three main areas of work, which align with the international convention that came into force in Ukraine back in 2003.

• The first is to reduce accidental dolphin deaths. We can learn from the experience of Romania and Bulgaria, where special devices are installed on fishing nets to deter harbor porpoises.
• The second is to expand the network of protected areas. This requires political will since it requires legislative changes. It is crucial to start this process now, even during the war, and especially to create these protected marine areas in Crimean waters.
• The third area is to strengthen government control over pollution sources—biological, chemical, and acoustic. This is not about punishment but about systemic recommendations. In other words, experts should be present to say, “Do not operate here right now because fish are coming,” or “This area is clear for operations.”

Will the abolition of dolphinariums affect the dolphin population? 

It will, and significantly. We do not have large herds of bottlenose dolphins like in the Pacific, where they number in the thousands. Our groups are small, each with its own routes and feeding grounds. When a dolphinarium poacher catches five bottlenose dolphins, it can have fatal consequences for the entire group.

For our country, dolphinariums are evil. Public pressure is key here—going to dolphinariums should become bad taste.

This publication was compiled with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework «European Renaissance of Ukraine» project. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

Main photo: NGL media. Photographer: Maxym Kozmenko

In April 2023, the Odesa dolphinarium Nemo was once again at the center of an animal cruelty scandal. Bloggers vacationing at Nemo Hotel Resort & SPA were getting photographed with seals from the dolphinarium right in their hotel room. At that time, UAnimals filed a complaint with the police, as the law prohibits offering photo services with wild animals outside the confines of dolphinariums. The inter-faction parliamentary association Humanna Krayina (Humane Country) also sent a petition to the police. As a result, criminal proceedings were initiated but later closed due to “lack of evidence of an offense.”

However, animal cruelty is not the only issue with the Odesa dolphinarium. UAnimals media, along with the OSINT agency Molfar, discovered that Nemo likely still has ties to Russia, with branches operating not only in the aggressor country but also in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Despite this, the dolphinariums in Ukraine remain open and continue to welcome visitors.

Debts and Hostile Takeovers: The Creation of Nemo

The first Nemo dolphinarium opened in Odesa in 2005, established by employees of the private enterprise Biolohichna Stantsiya (Biological Station).

According to the website of the city of Odesa from the CitySites network, about 1 million hryvnias from the Sevastopol budget were allocated for the dolphinarium project, with the remaining funds contributed by the limited liability company Nerum. This company leased land from the Biological Station for the construction of the dolphinarium, as well as four dolphins and three seals. In 2008, the lease expired, and Nerum owed about 5 million hryvnias for it.

The company was in no rush to return the money, so the debts were never paid. Instead, the Biological Station and its property were seized in a hostile takeover. Insiders working at this enterprise re-registered the dolphinarium to Nerum. Although the management of the Biological Station filed a lawsuit, it was not successful.

Thus, the dolphinarium belongs to the company Nerum, whose co-owners are:

• Rayisa Kislovska, mother of Odesa City Council deputy Andriy Kislovskyi;
• Mykhailo and Vyacheslav Kuchuks. Mykhailo Kuchuk was the deputy mayor of Odesa and was accused of accepting a bribe from a criminal group in 2023;
• The couple Serhiy and Nataliya Keliushkys. Nataliya Kelyushok (Kelly) has a temporary residence address in Russia;
• Dmytro Uryvskyi, one of the founders of the international non-governmental organization Mizhnarodna Asotsiatsiya Okeanariumiv Ta Delfinariyiv (International Association of Aquariums and Dolphinariums) in Crimea, lives in Anapa.

All of Nerum’s owners (or their full and partial namesakes) are also founders of the Russian limited liability company Ekologicheskiy Tsentr (Ecological Center). The company is located in Anapa, continues to operate, and pays taxes to the Russian budget. For example, in 2022, it paid over 600 thousand rubles (at the current exchange rate, this is over 6 thousand U.S. dollars to the budget of the state that launched a full-scale war against Ukraine).

Andriy Kislovskyi, who indirectly owns the dolphinarium through his mother, works in housing construction and apartment sales in Odesa. He was also a deputy of the Odesa City Council for four terms, particularly representing the Communist Party of Ukraine from 2010 to 2015. In 2013, Andriy Kislovskyi was seen among those involved in the seizure of the dolphinarium in Sevastopol. According to information from Russian databases leaked to the Internet, Kislovsky has a temporary residence address in Russia, where he has even retired.

Branches and Partner Companies: Nemo’s Ties to Russia

As part of its franchise, Nemo has dolphinarium branches in several Russian cities: Anapa, Nizhny Novgorod, Dzhubga, Golubinskaya, and Vityazevo.

Additionally, the Nemo dolphinarium is closely associated with other Russian companies. Primarily, this involves Chudnoye More (Wondrous Sea). From 2011 to 2013, this Russian company had a partnership with Nerum and received marine animals on behalf of the limited liability company Ecological Center.

These enterprises likely maintained connections even after Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the invasion of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014. For instance, the autonomous non-profit organization Ortsynus reported the deaths of marine animals between 2019 and 2021, including a female Pacific walrus named Nyusha and a female seal named Meggy. These animals belonged to the Nemo dolphinarium network through Ecological Center and Wondrous Sea, according to Ortsynus.

The owner of the limited liability company Wondrous Sea through a trustee is Sergey Zirinov, a deputy from Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, who is suspected of murders and organizing a gang. In 2017, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

In 2014, the company Nerum, together with Tetyana Ryabchikova, founded the limited liability company Delfinariy Nemo (Dolphinarium Nemo) in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The legal address of this company is 10  Revkomivskyi Lane in Alushta. Can you guess what else you can find at this address? A dolphinarium from the Nemo network in Alushta, according to its website. It can be assumed that through this newly established company, the Ukrainian owners continued to manage the Crimean dolphinariums under occupation, not only in Alushta but also in Feodosia. Evidence supporting this includes:

• As of 2016, the Nemo website still listed branches in Feodosia, Alushta, and Russian cities.
• Dolphinariums in the Russian-occupied Alushta and Feodosia, as well as the one in Minsk (Belarus), share the same logo, website design, cross-references, and mentions of each other on social media. At the same time, dolphinariums in Odesa, Almaty, and Minsk offer the same gift certificates with the contact information of the Odesa dolphinarium.
• The Nemo dolphinarium Odesa mentions 15 branches on its website (a number that can only be reached by including those operating in Russia and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine).

Regarding Nemo branches in occupied territories, it is also worth mentioning the Berdyansk branch. This branch is well-remembered by colleagues in Kharkiv: as of June 2024, the official website of the Kharkiv Nemo still lists the dolphinarium in temporarily occupied Berdyansk as part of the network. Additionally, the owners of Nemo in Kharkiv do not fully comply with the Law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” on their website. Although it technically has a Ukrainian version, part of the menu and other content, even the logo, remain in Russian.

Shady Land Deals and Animal Cruelty: Other Allegations Against Nemo

The Nemo dolphinarium has repeatedly faced accusations of animal abuse. At the beginning of this article, we mentioned bloggers filming sea lions not in the dolphinarium but in a hotel room at Nemo. Guests of this hotel complex get entertained not only by sea lions but also by dolphins. This can be seen in photos and videos on social media from people who have stayed at the Nemo Hotel Resort & SPA.

The dolphins are kept in a pool near the sunbeds where guests swim with them, which violates the law “On the Protection of Animals from Cruel Treatment.” By referring to Article 25, Section 10 of the aforementioned law, you will find the prohibition against keeping dolphins in public catering establishments, hotels, resorts, and health institutions. These animals are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats under the scientific name Tursiops truncatus (tursio), or the common bottlenose dolphin.

There are also suspicions that even the pools at the Nemo dolphinarium may not be safe for the animals. 

In 2020, the Zelenyi Lyst NGO (Green Leaf), together with the State Environmental Inspection in the Odesa region, attempted a surprise inspection of the pool where the dolphins are kept. They were not allowed inside, but they managed to film the pool using a drone. The pool’s condition raises questions about whether the water volume is sufficient, whether the tent covering is too thin, and whether the water in the pool is tap water. Chlorinated tap water is harmful to dolphins, causing skin and mucous membrane issues.

This was not the only time state inspectors were denied access to monitor compliance with environmental protection requirements. Over the past five years, State Environmental Inspection employees in the Odesa region were denied access twice. However, experts were eventually able to inspect the Odesa dolphinarium in 2023 when the police opened a criminal case due to signs of animal cruelty. The State Environmental Inspection cannot disclose the conditions in which the animals are kept due to the secrecy of the investigation.

These were far from the first signs of animal cruelty. Suspicions of mistreatment of Nemo residents existed earlier. 

For example, in 2018, employees of the Odesa dolphinarium organized an unforgettable show for visitors: during a performance, a female dolphin gave birth while performing a “romantic dance.” This occurred despite the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources having established Rules and Standards for Keeping Dolphins in Captivity five years earlier, which, among other things, prohibited the use of pregnant females and nursing calves in public performances.

At the Odesa Nemo, pregnant dolphins are not only made to perform, but the dolphinarium also offers individual dances with dolphins for a hefty fee. Here is the price list for such services: 3,000-4,000 hryvnias [$75-100 as of June 2024] for 10 minutes of VIP swimming with dolphins. You have to wonder whether this money is worth the life of the animal. Humans can infect dolphins with deadly infections such as influenza or COVID-19. Karyna Vyshniakova, a candidate of biological sciences and head of the Marine Vertebrate Laboratory at the Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of Sea (UkrSCES), highlighted this risk, “Scientific publications describe cases of bottlenose dolphins dying from the influenza A virus subtype H5N1. Additionally, scientists have discovered that dolphins have receptors similar to humans, which are responsible for SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

Moreover, there are the ubiquitous tricks where trainers ride the dolphins’ noses (scientifically known as rostrums). This can injure the animals. Experts have noted that even just being in captivity, dolphins can injure their rostrums against the pool walls. Adding the weight of 50-60 kg riders increases the risk of injury. Nemo does not seem to plan to abandon this practice. Recently, in May, UAnimals volunteers visited the Odesa dolphinarium and saw that they still have people riding on the dolphins’ noses.

Lack of Permits for Animal Keeping and Capture

In 2011, the Donetsk court considered a case against Nerum, which was accused of illegal construction and poaching. The lawsuit alleged that Nerum lacked permits for keeping wild animals and documents confirming the legality of transferring endangered marine mammals into private ownership and breeding them in captivity. 

According to the plaintiffs, the company had a permit to catch endangered animals in 2007, but all permits were annulled in April 2008. However, the company continued to somehow acquire marine animals for the Donetsk branch even after 2008. The court’s decision did not refute this information.

Unauthorized Land Seizure

The Odesa Nemo Dolphinarium is located on the territory of the Lanzheron beach. Nerum received a lease permit for this plot back in 2003. By 2007, the executive committee of the Odesa City Council allowed them to expand and build a “rehabilitation and health center for Dolphin therapy is not an evidence-based treatment method. The ultrasound emitted by dolphins does not meet the medical standards for ultrasound therapy. Besides, dolphins are wild animals that can harm people. For example, a dolphin had bitten a boy in the Nemo dolphinarium in Odesa.dolphin therapy».

Notably, the responsibility for overseeing this project was assigned to Mykhailo Kuchuk, not as a co-founder of Nemo but as the deputy mayor. At that time, the law “On Prevention of Corruption” did not exist, so such situations were not classified as a conflict of interest.

Since 2008, the company has been reconstructing the beach at the city’s request, as this plot was still in municipal ownership. However, in 2012, Nerum filed a lawsuit demanding that all newly constructed facilities on the Lanzheron shoreline be recognized as theirs. The court granted these demands and dismissed the prosecutor’s appeal. The Nemo Hotel was built with obvious legal violations as it is located less than 100 meters from the sea.

Nemo seized land during its expansion not just in Odesa. In Kyiv, the branch was established in a blatantly illegal manner: they occupied a plot of land and built a dolphinarium without permission. However, this trick did not work in the capital. The State Architectural and Construction Commission filed a lawsuit, and in 2013, the court ordered the demolition of the Nemo building in Kyiv. The founders appealed and continued to ignore the final demolition order for a long time. In the summer of 2017, the dolphinarium building was seized for large-scale fraud, and the dolphin shows ceased a few months later, in October. Unauthorized construction was insufficient for the dolphinarium’s operation, so the owners also illegally connected sewage systems to the building. In 2016 alone, Kyivvodokanal [Kyiv’s municipal water supply company] disconnected Nemo from the city’s sewer system three times, but they persistently reconnected each time.

The history of the Nemo dolphinarium network includes raiding, illegal construction, and, most disturbingly, the exploitation of defenseless animals. Despite animal rights activists’ outrage and numerous lawsuits, the Nemo dolphinarium continues to operate. Without visitors, this would be impossible. Perhaps, at least, the Russian connection in Nemo’s activities might convince Ukrainians not to support animal cruelty with their money.