Another dolphin washes ashore in Bandra National Institute of Oceanography to conduct probe

Another dolphin washes ashore in Bandra

National Institute of Oceanography to conduct probe

On Monday, at 8pm, Bandra resident Benedict Suarez noticed a blood-stained carcass of a dolphin at the Bandstand promenade. Suarez, who is a member of the citizen’s group Eagle Brigade, informed local corporator Asif Zakaria who, in turn, alerted the civic officials about the dead dolphin. This is the eighth case of a big mammal being washed ashore along the state’s coast since March. “The carcass was partially decomposed and bloated. There were no cuts on it,” said a civic official. As it was dark, the civic officials decided to recover the carcass the next morning. The dead dolphin was sent to the Deonar dumping ground without any post-mortem being conducted on it. Two weeks ago, an eight-ft-long dolphin was washed ashore the Elephanta coast. Though the carcass had deep cuts, the officials disposed it of without a post-mortem. The Versova-based National Institute of Oceanography is expected to conduct a detailed investigation into the increasing number of big mammals being washed ashore the coast. Marine biologist and chief conservator of forests (mangroves), N Vasudevan, said:“It is possible that the mammals may be straying away from their navigational course and moving closer to the coast, making them vulnerable to accidents with ships.” “Not conducting a post-mortem is unacceptable. I have asked all forest officials along the state’s coastal towns to conduct a thorough post-mortem on dead whales and dolphins in the future,” he added. On April 18, a whale shark was found beached at Badhwar Park in south Mumbai. On April 4, a humpback whale was washed ashore at the Diveagar coast in Raigad district. This came after one whale each, of the same species, was found beached at Uran and off Priyadarshini Park at Napean Sea Road on March 29 and March 31 respectively.