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The Montenegro Dolphin Project (MDP) was established in September 2016, in partnership with the Natural History Association of Montenegro, becoming the first long term research study on cetacean populations in Montenegrin waters.
Along the year, DMAD team realizes numerous surveys in the coastal waters of Montenegro to collect baseline knowledge on distribution patterns and encounter rates of bottlenose and striped dolphins. The research also targets photo identification to define the residency patterns in the coastline of Montenegro. Finally, to encourage the community to actively involve the project, they perform various public outreach activities, from beach clean ups to presentations in schools and scientific outreach works.
MAIN goal
MAIN goal
Identify the population status, distribution patterns and main threats to cetaceans present in Montenegrin waters to fill scientific knowledge gaps, help to implement effective conservations actions, and promote awareness of nature conservation initiatives.
team members
team members
dr. Aylin akkaya
dr. Aylin akkaya
Founder and Scientific Director
She found DMAD-Marine Mammals Research Association in 2016 after working in the field of animal behavior for over 10 years. Currently she is the Director of DMAD as well as the marine mammal consultant of WWF-Turkey. She has a PhD in Marine Mammals Behavior, and her background mainly focused on gathering the baseline information for threatened cetacean species, measuring the impact of human activities. Her main scientific interests lie in survey designs, geographic information systems, animal behavior, photo-identification, population estimates, acoustics, and threat assessment. She has published over 30 articles in international journals to reveal the first results of dedicated efforts, mainly in Turkey and Montenegro. She was my professional practice supervisor, and gave me trainings like photo-identification, statistics, acoustics, GIS, and tips for studying a PhD.
Tim awbery
Tim awbery
Montenegro Operation Director
Bachelor in Science in Conservation Biology and Ecology and a Master in Science in Surveying, Land and Environmental Management. He is focused in three main research areas: 1) The delineation of critical habitats for marine mammals in the understudied waters of Montenegro, Albania and Turkey, 2) The cumulative effect of marine vessels and other anthropogenic stressors on marine mammals, and 3) The distribution and magnitude of fishing pressures in Montenegro, Albania and Turkey. He usually works remotely for DMAD from the United Kingdom, but we were very lucky to have his company during two weeks of our internship in Montenegro. He gave me trainings in GIS.
Selina brouwer
Selina brouwer
Intern and Volunteer Coordinator
Selina was born and raised on the Ameland Island in the Netherlands completely surrounded by beautiful nature and the Ocean. This is where she developed her passion for the protection and conservation of the marine environment with a main focus on whales, dolphins and other marine animals through research and environmental education. She did a Bachelor’s in Coastal Zone Management with a major in Marine Biology. She met Dr. Aylin Akkaya during an internship of nine months to assist Aylin's PhD thesis in the Bosporus, Istanbul. After her graduation, Selina started as Intern & Volunteer Coordinator for the Montenegro Dolphin Research, project of DMAD – Marine Mammals Research Association. She has been working for DMAD for one year and a half.
She was in charge of the organization of our land and boat surveys, boat captain and team leader. She gave me trainings focused on field work such as cetacean identification, behavior, data collection, environmental data, use of Theodolite, data entry and Pythagoras software.
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