7 more dolphins found dead

Seven more spinner dolphins were found dead at fishing villages near Kalpakkam and Mamallapuram on Tuesday, a day after the carcasses of five dolphins were found washed ashore in the same area.

Members of the TREE foundation said that with this, the total number of dead spinner dolphins found by them since March 9 had gone up to 15.

T.A. Pugalarasan, a fisherman from Nainar kuppam and a member of the Sea Turtle Protection Force, said there were no injury marks on any of the dolphins, which indicated that they could have drowned after being captured in a large net.

Spinner dolphins need to resurface every 10 to 15 minutes to breathe.

While it was not uncommon to find stranded whales and dolphins along the coast between November to April as it was a migratory route, it was the first time they spotted 15 dead dolphins in four days, said Supraja Dharini, managing trustee of the Tree Foundation. “We suspect that while some of the dolphins might have drowned when a large net was cast around a haul, it is possible that a few dolphins might have escaped and got carried away by ocean currents when they were dying,” she said, about the dolphins which had washed ashore.