Almost 170 dolphins and porpoises washed up on Cornish beaches in a year
Cornwall Wildlife Trust is renewing its appeal to help the creatures survive
Last updated 4th Jan 2022
Cornwall Wildlife Trust has renewed its appeal to save dolphins and porpoises, as figures show almost 170 have washed up on our beaches in the last year.
The charity launched the campaign to help the species 'survive and thrive', shortly before its annual review of marine life.
167 were discovered during 2021 but the charity says in some years, the number of individual deaths can be higher than 200.
Abby Crosby, Marine Conservation Officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: "This number is often a surprise to some people but it's not a surprise to us. It's something we've been experiencing for many many years.
"We are fortunate to see lots of live dolphins of our environment, every year Cornwall sees quite a shocking number of dead stranded animals which wash up around our coast".
According to the Marine team at the charity, Cornish coastlines are the home to 28 different species of dolphins, porpoises and whales.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust has seen marine disturbances resulting in accidents with some of these species triple in the past six years.
Abby continued: "It's phenomenal but like so much of our environment, there are so many pressures put upon it and them therefore it's essential that we do the work that we do at Cornwall Wildlife to protect dolphins and give them a future".
Many of the species who have been reported dead have been found on the beach tangled in nets.
Donations to the appeal will help to recruit more volunteers to monitor the coastline.
It will also allow the trust to offer more stranding training sessions for current volunteers to teach them ways save dolphins which get washed up on to beaches as well as continue to prevent accidental capturing of the protected animals.
Abby continued: "In some years 20-30% of those dolphins that wash up on our beach die as a result of bycatch which is accidental entanglement in fishing gear which is obviously a situation that everybody doesn't want to be happening, including the fishermen we work with, so we work a lot at solutions and come up with ways we can prevent that happening in the future.
"Dolphins, wales and porpoises are top marine predators, they're highly intelligent. They are ultimately demonstrating the status of the health of our seas and we have a responsibility to protect and look after them.
"The appeal ultimately will raise essential funds to enable us to carry on our core projects and keep us protecting these special animals in our waters".
More information about the appeal and how to support it can be found on Cornwall Wildlife Trust's website.