As part of this year’s #30DayMapChallenge, the BLUE CONNECT Project has highlighted one of its 12 Demonstration Sites - Burgas Bay, Black Sea and its marine biodiversity with a new map demonstrating the spatial overlap between fishing activities and the Black Sea bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) in the Bulgarian sea waters. The 30 day map challenge is a yearly event each November in which participants aim to make a different map every day according to a set of themes and share them on social media with the hashtag #30DayMapChallenge.
Created by our colleague Lawrence Whatley from VLIZ, the map visualises areas where trawling and set gillnet fishing – identified as key pressures – intersect with recorded sightings of bottlenose dolphins. In Burgas Bay, marine mammals including the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) have been identified as important ecological subjects, and fishing, particularly trawling and gillnet fishing, as a significant pressure. By overlaying data from GBIF: The Global Biodiversity Information Facility and Global Fishing Watch, the hot spot areas of impact are visualized to help inform conservation and restoration measures. The map shows sightings of bottlenose dolphins and areas where at least 5 hours of set gillnet fishing and/or 20 hours of trawling have happened in the last year.
In preparation for the upcoming Validation Workshop with stakeholders early next year, CCMS, as co-leader of the Burgas Bay DS, has already started internal testing and applying the BLUE CONNECT Blueprint tools in collaboration with colleagues from University of Tartu. The focus is on structural connectivity and blue corridors, including tools for Cumulative Effect Assessment (CEA), Land-Sea Interactions (LSI) (Stancheva et al., 2025), and better alignment of MSP and MPAs.
As leader of one of the core BLUE CONNECT work packages – WP4 Showcasing effective co-ownership and co-management: engaging stakeholders and citizens, CCMS has developed a common methodology for co-management, which will be validated and adjusted with key MPA stakeholders in the Burgas Bay.
Follow with the BLUE CONNECT's website to learn more about the project and the Burgas Bay Demonstration Site.