Mass dolphin stranding in Cornwall - at least 26 dolphins dead
June 2008. On Monday 9th June, 26 common dolphins stranded and died near St Mawes in Cornwall. Cornwall Wildlife Trust has been working closely with the Institute of Zoology to try to find the answer to the question on everybody's lips, "Why did this happen and can we do anything to prevent this in the future?" Seven dolphins refloated
Reports initially came into the Trust's Strandings Hotline and to British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) early on Monday morning and the extent of the incident quickly became apparent. As the Trust's strandings volunteers worked with others to locate and remove the dead dolphins, BDMLR responded extremely quickly to the live strandings and successfully re-floated seven animals which appeared to be doing well. The response to this incident was extremely good with many individuals and numerous organisations dedicating long hours at short notice to assist in this emergency.
In addition to the stranded animals on the shoreline a discovery was also made of a group of common dolphins in the Falmouth harbour area near the Maritime Museum. These individuals were showing signs of normal behaviour, but worries were raised that they may head up the creeks and become stranded. BDMLR, with the assistance of the Harbour Master and several members of the public, assisted in corralling this group into deeper water. So far there have been no further reports of additional strandings and everybody involved is hopeful that this will be the end of a tragic event.
The scale of this mass stranding is unprecedented in Cornwall and has been a shock to everybody. Work is progressing quickly to find a reason why this happened. There are several possibilities, but none of which have yet been confirmed.
Potential reasons
This season the plankton bloom has been relatively late and may have put increased pressure on all marine life to find food. This may have caused these dolphins to head up stream to warmer waters where phytoplankton blooms were occurring earlier to feed on fish species feeding on the algae. However early post mortem information appears to discount this theory as the dolphins all appear to be well fed and in good health. There have also been instances in the past in different countries of toxic algal blooms causing fatalities in dolphin populations. This occurs because the dolphins are the apex predator and accumulate toxins as they feed on smaller fish. Another possibility which has been seen in other regions of the world is increased naval activity and the use of very powerful sonar devices. However it has been revealed that the Royal Navy were conducting exercises in the area at the time with surface ships and submarines, and it is very possible that the usage of sonar or weapons may have scared or disorientated the dolphins.
Tom Hardy, Marine Conservation Officer for Cornwall Wildlife Trust said, "All the animals recovered to date have been adolescents and appear to be in very good condition with no obvious signs of malnourishment or physical injuries."
Other mass stranding events
- June 2008. 50 melon-headed whales - a species of dolphin - strand on a beach in Madagascar.
- November 2007. 70 more striped dolphins die on Iranian beach.
- September 2007. 75 striped dolphins strand in Iran.
- May 2006. 3-500 bottlenose dolphins strand on Zanzibar.
- January 2006. 13 dolphins strand on Cape Cod, USA.
- March 2005. 95 dolphins strand on Florida beach.
- November 2004. 70 pilot whales strand in New Zealand.
- November 2003. 110 long-finned pilot whales and 20 bottle-nosed dolphins strand in Tasmania.
Lactating females - Fate of juveniles unknown
Tom continued, "Of the 26 dead animals recovered 15 are undergoing post-mortem examination by the Institute of Zoology on site today. Eight additional bodies were taken for autopsy, five of which were adolescents and three of which were lactating females - unfortunately the juveniles have not been sighted."
The Trust could not have responded yesterday without funding from our members or without the help from our many dedicated marine volunteers. If you would like to make a donation to Cornwall Wildlife Trust's marine work, please send a cheque made payable to Cornwall Wildlife Trust to ‘Marine Donations', Five Acres, Allet, Truro, Cornwall, TR4 9DJ.
Please report all dolphin and marine animal strandings to Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network on 0845 201 2626.
This week's mass stranding of common dolphins has concerned so many people, it has brought many groups together and work is progressing quickly to discover why this tragic event happened. Award winning and eco-minded company Frugi have been supporting the Cornwall Wildlife Trust through the Bycatch Evidence Evaluation Project (BEEP) for nearly 2 years, enabling essential research into why frequent Strandings occur around our coastline, in an attempt to prevent such scenes.
Marie Preece, Marketing & Fundraising Manager for Cornwall Wildlife Trust said, "Frugi donates money directly to the Trust's marine conservation work. This means that both Lucy and Kurt can see first hand what their money has been used for. The involvement of conservation charities in Monday's stranding of dolphins just reiterates why it is so vital that we continue to have financial support from local companies in Cornwall."
Frugi's co-founder Lucy Jewson states "Both Kurt and I have a deep interest in our marine environment, we live just on the Helford and wanted to make a financial commitment to finding out more about these ‘accidents'."
Frugi's award winning approach demonstrates how businesses can effectively contribute to carefully audited environmental concerns. "We currently donate 1% of our turnover to Cornwall Wildlife Trust's BEEP Project and an organic cotton growing in Benin, Africa. We keep very close to both projects as they can make differences to local communities," reports Lucy.
So far BEEP has provided training across Europe, translated a training manual for volunteers - all to scientifically collect information to explain why these incredibly sad incidents occur.
Businesses can contact Lucy Jewson at Frugi or Jasmin Brown at Cornwall Wildlife Trust for further information or find out more on http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.com/
