62 days into 2019 and already 600 dolphins have washed up dead, with many more dolphins dead at the bottom of the ocean or have washed out to sea rather than ending up on the beaches.
While dead dolphins wash up on beaches in France each year scientists say the situation is alarming with the figure being much higher than any previous year at the same period.
According to The Local fr, the dolphins are washing up on the stretch of Atlantic coast running all the way from southern Brittany to the Spanish border with large numbers of carcasses found in the departments of Vendée and in the Charentes Maritimes.
Most of the dead dolphins found bear injury marks which researchers say are caused by big fishing boats and the large fishing nets they use.
"Among the carcasses found, 93 per cent show signs that they have been captured by fishing vessels and their equipment such as mutilations, amputations and fractured jaws," according to the French environmental charity France Nature Environnement (FNE).
The dolphins get caught in the vast nets used to catch fish like hake and sea bass, which the dolphins like to eat. Some of these nets are fixed in the sea bed and when dolphins get stuck in them, they can't come up for air to breathe and they suffocate.
Trawlers are also a problem as they drag large fishing nets behind them which dolphins also get caught in and suffer injuries and die. When they get stuck, dolphins panic and stress can also kill them.
Animal-Die-Offs
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