Following the stranding and deaths of at least 26 common dolphins on the south coast of Cornwall, WDCS has met with Defra and asked them to conduct a full and public investigation.

In addition, WDCS has also made a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), with the aim of fully understanding activities offshore. All avenues of investigation remain open, and we still await the results of the detailed postmortems on the animals.

The majority of the dead and dying dolphins were found at St Anthony, spread over almost 1km of the River Percuil, Single stranded animals were also found at Trelissick, about four miles away on the River Fal, and at St Mawes, almost opposite the main stranding site.

A group of dolphins also got into difficulty in the shallow waters of Gillan Harbour, about eight miles away from the main stranding site, and local residents had to help these animals back into deeper water. 

A rescue operation was mounted by British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who managed to refloat at least two of the stranded dolphins. At least one dolphin was euthanised.  Sadly the majority of the dolphins were found dead. 

It is unclear why the dolphins stranded, however initial post mortems on a number of the animals have shown that they were healthy, but had not recently fed, before they stranded.  There are concerns that the dolphins may have been driven ashore by loud noise from military activities. 

Common dolphins are usually found in deeper waters offshore, it is possible that they became disorientated in the shallow waters of the estuary and were unable to find their way to safety.  Mass strandings in the UK are unusual and that the animals were stranded over such a distance is unheard of.

 WDCS’s Sarah Dolman said: “This is an incredibly rare and sad event.  It is likely to be some time before we know for sure exactly what has caused the deaths of these dolphins. The government has committed to conduct a full public investigation and as part of this we need for the MOD to release detailed information about all activities, including sonar activity, in the area in the days leading up to the stranding.”

Military sonar has been linked to mass strandings in other parts of the world, but this would be the first case to involve common dolphins. 

WDCS, along with many other groups and scientists, believes that the mid-frequency sonar used during military exercises, can be harmful and sometimes lethal to whales and dolphins. Dozens of whales and dolphins have fatally stranded themselves on beaches in the UK, U.S., the Bahamas, the Canary Islands, Japan and too many other countries to list, since the U.S. Navy, and others around the world, began operating sonar in the 1960s.

WDCS does not believe that, with our limited understanding about the potential impacts of intense noise produced by navy activities, the military can provide adequate information that the training exercises do not harm marine mammals which rely on the area. Absence of evidence is not the same thing as evidence of absence.

WDCS will be pressing the MOD for information about what activities were happening at the time of the tragic Cornwall mass stranding and to campaign for better protection from military exercises.

More news on this story available from:

TimesOnline

BBC Why do dolphins beach en masse

For more detailed information on noise pollution and its impacts for whales and dolphins, click here to read the WDCS report ‘Oceans of Noise’.

Image courtesy of Dave Jarvis, British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

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