Just read a very sad press release on the Cornwall wildlife trust website. There were ten deaths of dolphins on the Cornwall coast in the space of two weeks which is much more common than usual and definitely cause for concern. The common factor in the cases seems to be damage from fishing gear. The quote says:

Full press release

I was sent a video of dolphin slaughter in Japan from Youtube. You can find it be doing a search on widget 44, dolphin but I can't stress enough that it really is not for the faint hearted (or under 18s) and very hard to watch. They are just processed like fish.

I wonder what's been causing there to be more dolphin deaths recently? The fishing equipment hasn't changed has it? Maybe it was just a bad week.

or the weather conditions have made the actual picture of bycatch more apparent.......

That is disgraceful that the poor things are cut up and left to drown, perhaps it has been the weather conditions that have washed up more than usual, but whatever has happened it at least highlights the cruelty of some fishing equipment.

On a related note, I'm pleased to hear that the Scottish government is not going to allow gas and oil exploration until it's clear that it won't have any effect on the local bottlenose dolphins. With all the worry about resources I'm glad to hear that wildlife considerations are still being taken into account.