An expedition is to analyse the effect of Russia’s war in Ukraine on the marine environment in the Bulgarian waters for the first time. The research is part of the project SCIRENA II by the Institute of Marine Research of the Kingdom of Norway and the Black Sea Basin Directorate in Varna, the regional administration in Varna has announced. The study will also involve the military research ship Saints Cyril and Methodius. SCIRENA II, which is financed by the European Economic Area will continue until April 2025. The project will study the extent to which the munition and weapons have affected the Black Sea species and water. At the beginning of the war there were dolphins – which are at the top of the food chain in the Black Sea - which were seriously injured and burned. They also suffer acoustic traumas from the military sonars also which hampers them from finding food.