The Wildlife Trusts urge support for Year of the Dolphin

Threats for dolphins continue to rise. They face entanglement in fishing nets, marine pollution, starvation, deliberate hunting and disturbance from noise. In China, the Chinese river dolphin, the baiji, which lived in the Yangtze River for some 20 million years and was revered by the Chinese as the "goddess" of the mighty river, is now believed to be extinct. The baiji is the first large aquatic mammal to be declared extinct since the Caribbean monk seal was killed off by hunting and over-fishing over fifty years ago.

Here in the UK 175 cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises or whales) were found dead on Cornwall’s beaches in 2006 by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network (www.cwtstrandings.org) - a startling 70% increase on the previous year – and in the last week alone, six more dead common dolphins were reported to the network.

Lisa Browning, Marine Development Officer, The Wildlife Trusts, commented: “Seeing dolphins at play is a joyous spectacle, one never forgotten. Sadly, for many people, their first encounter with these wonderful animals is when they find a dead, mutilated dolphin on the beach rather than seeing them swimming free in the sea. Some are crushed to death in nets full of fish or, being air-breathing mammals like humans, suffocate or drown as they cannot surface to breathe.”

Trained strandings volunteers of the Cornwall and Devon Wildlife Trusts photograph and record details of stranded marine animals, including external injuries that may indicate how the animal died. The volunteers also help secure and transport animals to veterinary laboratories for post mortem, in order to determine the cause of death. This information is then used locally, nationally and internationally to lobby Government departments responsible for the marine environment to take action to protect these animals.

Joana Doyle, Marine Conservation Officer for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust says:
“Our Marine Strandings Network volunteers are at the forefront of scientific research into the deaths of marine animals and it is thanks to their efforts that we are starting to piece together information about why dead dolphins are washing up on Cornish beaches. Without their tireless efforts vital evidence would not be collected and the battle to protect these animals could be lost.”

For full details of how you can help The Wildlife Trusts’ Dolphin campaign, visit: www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=environment:marine:difference If you live by the coast, keep a look out for dolphins and porpoises that you see washed up on the beach and report them immediately. In Cornwall, call the strandings hotline on 0845 201 2626; in Devon call 01392 279244. 

(Our own Brett Lewis of Lewis Ecology or the British Divers Marine Life Rescue are the people to contact for the Kent area. Brett can be reached on 07801750904)