Whales and Dolphins in Adriatic: Is Pandemic Healing Nature?

Recent images of whales and dolphins swimming in the Adriatic Sea have gone viral on social networks, prompting suggestions that nature has "finally got some peace" during the coronavirus pandemic, which has greatly reduced maritime traffic.

Hrvoje Cizmek, a marine biologist from the Croatian marine explorers' society, 20,000 Leagues, told BIRN that this theory is probably correct, since marine mammals like dolphins and whales use sound to communicate that heavy human traffic interferes with, forcing them to avoid busy seas.

But he did say whales appear in the Adriatic anyway from time to time. "As far as this current situation is concerned, especially with the big whale that was spotted a few days ago and which is probably still somewhere in the Adriatic Sea, this is a normal occurrence at this time of year," Cizmek said, explaining that the Mediterranean is home to a population of whales, some of which in April or May come to the Adriatic to feed on the plankton.

One of them was seen in the waters off the Croatian island of Solta and recorded with social media users' phone. The waters of the Marjan Park Forest in Split area were meanwhile visited by eight dolphins on Sunday, which also delighted social network users. Cizmek says these fascinating mammals are now being seen much closer to land than usual.

"There may be a lot more dolphins that people can see now. We get a lot of reports that dolphins can often be seen from the balconies of some houses by the sea, overlooking a large piece of the sea, bays and some canals," he said.

"Some 'good things' are going on with this corona crisis," he said. "These good things are not about humans, but mostly about nature. There is a lot of talk about the reduced amount of nitrogen oxides in...