400 Dolphins Wash Up
Dead Off African
Coast
By Ali
Sultan
4-29-6
- ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) -- Scientists worked Saturday to
try to determine why hundreds of dolphins became stranded in shallow
waters and later washed up dead along the shore of a popular tourist
destination on Zanzibar's northern coast.
-
- Villagers and fishermen buried the
remains of about 400 bottleneck dolphins - which live in deep offshore
waters - whose carcasses washed up Friday along a 2.5-mile stretch
between Kendwa and Nungwi.
-
- Scientists suspect the animals were
disturbed and stressed by some unknown factor or were poisoned before
they died, said Narriman Jiddawi, a marine biologist at the Institute of
Marine Science of the University of Dar es Salaam.
-
- A preliminary examination of their
stomach contents failed to show the presence of squid beaks and otoliths
- the ear stones that are found directly behind the brain of bony fishes
that are eaten by dolphins, Jiddawi said.
-
- This indicates that the dolphins had
either not eaten for a long time or had vomited very severely, she
said.
-
- Their general condition, however,
appears to show that they had eaten recently since their ribs were not
clearly visible under the skin.
-
- Experts were preparing to further
examine the dolphins' stomachs for traces of residue poison, including
from the toxic "red tides" of algae.
-
- Experts also planned to examine the
dolphins' heads to assess whether they had been affected by military
sonar.
-
- In the United States, experts were
investigating the possibility that sonar from U.S. submarines could have
been responsible for a similar incident in Marathon, Florida, where 68
deep-water dolphins stranded themselves in March 2005.
-
- A U.S. Navy task force patrols the coast
of East Africa as part of counterterrorism operations. A Navy official
was not immediately available for comment, but the service rarely
comments on the location of submarines at sea.
-
- Zazinbar's resorts attract many visitors
who come to watch and swim with wild dolphins.
-
- The Indo-Pacific bottlenose, humpback
and spinner porpoises, commonly known as dolphins, are the most common
species in Zanzibar's coastal waters, with bottlenose and humpback
dolphins often found in mixed-species groups.
-
- The most conclusive link between the use
of military sonar and injury to marine mammals was observed from the
stranding of beached whales in 2000 in the Bahamas. The U.S. Navy later
acknowledged that sonar likely contributed to the stranding of the
extremely shy species.
-
- "These animals must have been
disoriented and ended up in shallow waters, where they died," fisherman
Abdallah Haji, 43, said as he helped bury the dolphins near the bloodied
beach.
-
- Residents had cut open their bellies to
take the animals' livers, which they use to make waterproofing material
for boats.
-
- "We have never seen this type of
dolphins in our area," said the man, who has fished in Zanzibar waters
for more than two decades.
-
- Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
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