Cetaceans in the coastal waters of southern Romania: initial assessment of abundance, distribution, and seasonal trends

This paper presents the results of two vessel surveys in 2017 (spring and summer) in order to estimate cetacean abundance and distribution in Romanian Black Sea waters following distance sampling methods. Eight transects, from east to west, perpendicular on the shore line with a total length of 211....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the Black Sea/Mediterranean environment Vol. 25; no. 3; p. 266
Main Authors Paiu, Romulus-Marian, Olariu, Bogdan, Paiu, Angelica-Ioela, Cândea, Mihaela-Elena Mirea, Gheorghe, Anca-Maria, Murariu, Dumitru
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Istambul Turkish Marine Research Foundation 01.01.2019
Subjects
Abundance
Aquatic mammals
Baseline studies
Cetacea
Coastal waters
Conservation status
Distribution
Dolphins & porpoises
Harbors
Harbours
Marine mammals
Porpoises
Sampling
Sampling methods
Surveys
Black Sea
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Summary:This paper presents the results of two vessel surveys in 2017 (spring and summer) in order to estimate cetacean abundance and distribution in Romanian Black Sea waters following distance sampling methods. Eight transects, from east to west, perpendicular on the shore line with a total length of 211.95 km, were designed and executed in sea conditions ≤ Beaufort 4 in an area of 1063 km2with coverage of 39.6%. In total there were 275 sightings of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ponticus), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis ponticus) and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena relicta) recorded. Both European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Habitats Directive require Member States to monitor and maintain at favourable conservation status those species identified to be in need of protection, including all cetaceans. This study provides the baseline data on the Black Sea cetaceans in Romanian waters.
ISSN:1304-9550