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Tag: dolphins

  • Animals | The Guardian: A record number of dead dolphins washed up on French shores

    Animals | The Guardian: A record number of dead dolphins washed up on French shores

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    According to those who campaign for animals, the time for dolphin populations is coming to an end. The French government has been called on to ban fishing in areas where animals are at risk.

    A record number dead dolphins have recently washed up on the shores of the Atlantic in France, writes a British newspaper The Guardian.

    Animal activists believe that this is only a fraction of the injuries and deaths of dolphins caused by fishing vessels.

    According to researchers at Pelagis, a marine mammal and bird observatory connected to the University of La Rochelle, entanglement in fishing gear is the main cause of death for dolphins, writes The Guardian.

    Researchers recorded 370 dead dolphins in the Bay of Biscay between December 1 and January 25.

    Last year, 669 dolphins were found on French beaches. Most of them were found between mid-December and early April.

    Marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd France has also reported on a case where a dolphin washed up on a French beach had been mutilated.

    The leader of the organization Lamya Essemlal according to the number of dolphins washed ashore is only the tip of the iceberg. According to the organization, the actual mortality of dolphins on the west coast of France could be up to 11,000 of the dolphin population, which is estimated at 180,000-200,000 individuals.

    “The majority of captured and released dolphins drown in the sea and their bodies sink,” he said, according to The Guardian.

    As a solution to the problem, it has been proposed, among other things, to allow fishing only in certain areas at certain times. The French government has also been called on to suspend certain non-selective fishing practices.

    #Animals #Guardian #record #number #dead #dolphins #washed #French #shores

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    ( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

  • Delight as dolphins spotted in New York’s Bronx River

    Delight as dolphins spotted in New York’s Bronx River

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    Dolphins have been spotted frolicking in New York City’s Bronx River, an encouraging sign of the improving health of a waterway that was for many years befouled as a sewer for industrial waste.

    A pair of dolphins was seen gliding through the river’s waters on Monday, the New York City parks department confirmed, near a small park in the city’s Bronx borough. The Bronx river rises north of New York City and cuts through the Bronx before terminating in the East River, the estuary that separates the Bronx and Manhattan from the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.

    “It’s true – dolphins were spotted in the Bronx River this week!,” the parks department gleefully tweeted. “This is great news – it shows that the decades-long effort to restore the river as a healthy habitat is working. We believe these dolphins naturally found their way to the river in search of fish.”

    Dolphins have not been seen in the river for several years, but there has been an increase in sightings of the marine mammals in the waters around New York as the industrial pollution that blighted the region has eased.

    Scientists previously set up underwater microphones at aquatic locations around New York to listen for the distinctive clicking noises emitted by bottlenose dolphins and found that they are particularly active in the harbor that separates New York and New Jersey. A pair of dolphins were seen in the waters off Brooklyn last year, surprising onlookers.

    The Bronx River suffered for many years as it became a natural dumping ground for waste running from nearby industrial plants. In recent decades, however, industrial activity near the river has declined and municipalities have agreed to not push sewage into the waterway. City authorities stock the Bronx river with fish, too, a lure to dolphins, who eat 20lbs of fish a day.

    “We’ve come a long way across multiple decades of environmental improvement, water quality cleaning, better environmental stewardship, better relations, all of which helps the overall environment and then leads to recovery of these systems,” said Howard Rosenbaum, a dolphin expert at the Wildlife Conservation Society.

    “I think it’s just great that these things are happening and hopefully the overall environmental recovery for these urban waterways continues, and we continue to see marine wildlife – their habitats, their prey – flourish.”



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    #Delight #dolphins #spotted #Yorks #Bronx #River
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )