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Associated Press

Many of the dolphins’ bodies were horribly mutilated, the fins cut off.
But what shocked French marine researchers wasn’t just the brutality of the deaths of these highly intelligent mammals, but also the numbers involved – a record 1,100 have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast since January.

The mass deaths, widely blamed on aggressive industrial fishing, have alarmed animal welfare groups and prompted France’s ecology minister to launch a national plan to protect them.
“There’s never been a number this high,” said Willy Daubin, a member of La Rochelle University’s National Centre for Scientific Research. “Already in three months, we have beaten last year’s record, which was up from 2017 and even that was the highest in 40 years.”
Dolphins in troubled waters
Though Daubin said 90 per cent of the fatalities resulted from accidental capture in industrial nets, the reason behind the spike this year is a mystery.
“What fishing machinery or equipment is behind all these deaths?” he asked.

Autopsies carried out on the dolphins this year by La Rochelle University’s National Centre for Scientific Research show extreme levels of mutilation.
Activists say a common practice is for fishermen to cut body parts off the suffocated dolphins after they are pulled up on the nets, to save the net itself.
What fishing machinery or equipment is behind all these deaths?
Willy Daubin, La Rochelle University’s National Centre for Scientific Research
French Ecology Minister Francois de Rugy rushed last Friday to La Rochelle amid pressure to lower the number dying as a result of human action. French President Emmanuel Macron has a pro-ecology stance and oft-quoted slogan to “Make the Planet Great Again.”
In a noisy ocean, whales go quiet but dolphins start shouting
Rugy has come up with some plans, including bolstering research into acoustic repellent devices on small trawlers in the Bay of Biscay, an industrial fishing hub in the Atlantic Ocean. When activated, the devices send unpleasant signals to nearby dolphins that cause them to swim away.

But animal rights group Sea Shepherd said they do not go far enough, and has already decried such measures as “useless.”
Threatened Cambodia river dolphins making comeback
It claims many of the trawlers they watch in the region don’t activate the repellent devices owing to fears they will scare off valuable fish as well, and operators only turn them on if they are checked by an “onboard observer”.
It also said that increasing the number of devices is no long-term solution for the underwater mammals as the move would make the ocean an uninhabitable drum of noise pollution.
“The government needs to take responsibility and act – especially Macron, who said he wanted to protect ecology,” said Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France.
She pointed to scientists who predict the current rates of fishing will likely drive the dolphin population to extinction.
“The spotlight has been put on the trawlers that fish for sea bass … which is a scandal. But they were not the only ones responsible.”
Strange sea creature is a hybrid of dolphin and melon-headed whale
She suggested that aggressive hake fishing, which was given the green light three years ago after long ban, was a major factor. The spike in dolphin deaths also began three years ago.
Sea Shepherd explained the ecological crisis as stemming from unprecedented demand for low-cost fish.
“Right now, the sea bass that is being caught by the trawlers that kill dolphins, you can find on the French market for €8 per kg (US$4.10 per pound),” she said.
Global seafood consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, according to European Commission, a rate that rights groups have branded unsustainable.


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Conservation

Gruesome mystery as 1,100 dead dolphins, many mutilated and finless, wash ashore in France this year

This photo taken on February 7 and provided by the Observatoire Pelagis shows dead dolphins lined up in La Tremblade on the Atlantic coast, western France. Photo: AP

This photo taken on Feb.6, 2019 and provided by the Observatoire Pelagis shows a scientist standing by a dead dolphin in Chatelaillon-les-Boucholeurs on the Atlantic coast, western France. France has been shaken into action after a record number of dead dolphins have washed up on the country’s Atlantic coast this year, many clearly victims of industrial fishing. More than a 1,000 corpses, according to French marine researchers _ death toll that has alarmed animal welfare groups and prompted France’s ecology minister to launch a national plan to protect them. (Jerome Spitz, Observatoire Pelagis/CNRS/Universite de la Rochelle via AP)

This photo taken on March 7, 2019 and provided by the Observatoire Pelagis shows dead dolphins on a shore of La Tranche sur Mer, on the Atlantic coast, western France. France has been shaken into action after a record number of dead dolphins have washed up on the country’s Atlantic coast this year, many clearly victims of industrial fishing. More than a 1,000 corpses, according to French marine researchers _ death toll that has alarmed animal welfare groups and prompted France’s ecology minister to launch a national plan to protect them. (Cecile Dars, Observatoire Pelagis/CNRS/Universite de la Rochelle via AP)

Volunteers of the Pelagis Obsevatory examine a dead dolphin on a beach of the Atlantic Ocean near Lacanau, southwestern France, on March 22, 2019. - Over 1,100 beached dolphins have been recorded on the French Atlantic coast, mainly in the Vendee, Charente-Maritime and Gironde deprtments, according to the Pelagis Observatory, a marine mammal and seabird research laboratory based in La Rochelle. "We have dolphins arriving on the coast with marks, we can prove that it's accidental capture but we can not detect what fishing gear has contributed to this." We need to know exactly what it's happening", said Willy Dabin of the Pelagis Observatory. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)

Dolphins in troubled waters

In a noisy ocean, whales go quiet but dolphins start shouting, new studies show

A humpback whale and her calf in Archipelago de Revillagigedo, Mexico. Photo: Unesco

In this photo taken Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009, a pod of dolphins catch a wave at Cape Adieu, 160 kms (99 miles) west of Ceduna, Australia. Photographer Andrew Brooks had gone to the beach for a surf when he was surprised to find a pod of 40-50 dolphins, believed to be bottlenose dolphins, with the same idea. (AP Photo/Andrew Brooks) ** NO SALES, NO MAGAZINES, EDITORIAL USE ONLY **

Humpback whale with her calf is seen under water near the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, October 17, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

TO GO WITH STORY "US-WILDLIFE-OCEANS-COUSTEAU-FRANCE-AUSTRALIA" In this 2004 handout photo obtained from EarthEcho International, Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of legendary French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, encounters spotted dolphins off the coast of Bermuda. The ocean must hold an irresistible attraction for someone with the Cousteau genes swimming in their blood. Philippe Cousteau Jr. and his sister Alexandra grew up around the ocean, and now, 20 February 2007 are taking on the mission of education and conservation begun by their legendary grandfather, underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau. AFP PHOTO/EarthEcho International/STEVE MCCULLOCH

Tourist boats are seen near a humpback whale and her calf, near the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, October 17, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

Threatened Cambodia river dolphins making comeback

Irrawaddy dolphins in Cambodia’s Mekong river. Photo: AFP/WWF-Cambodia

In this undated handout picture released by WWF-Cambodia on April 23, 2018, Mekong Irawaddy dolphins surface in Cambodia's Mekong river. The population of Cambodia's critically endangered river dolphin is growing for the first time in decades, conservations said April 23, hailing a major turnaround for the freshwater species. / AFP PHOTO / WWF-CAMBODIA / Lor KIMSAN / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / WWF-CAMBODIA " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

Strange sea creature is a hybrid of dolphin and melon-headed whale – but please don’t call it a ‘wholphin’

This August 11, 2017, photo provided by Cascadia Research shows a hybrid between a melon-headed whale and a rough-toothed dolphin in the foreground, swimming next to a melon-headed whale near Kauai, Hawaii. Photo: AP

A stranded rough-toothed dolphin, accompanied by marine mammal trainer, is rescued and taken to the Ocean Park. 15 May 2004

News

World

Europe

Industrial fishing is believed to be to blame, but the exact reason for the massive spike in dolphin deaths is unknown
In just three months, 2019 has already recorded the highest annual dolphin death toll in French waters in 40 years


Industrial fishing is believed to be to blame, but the exact reason for the massive spike in dolphin deaths is unknown. In just three months, 2019 has already recorded the highest annual dolphin death toll in French waters in 40 years.


France

Environment