Dolphin Consumption On Rise In Poorer Nations

Dolphin for dinner is becoming more common as people in poorer nations struggle to put food on their plates.

While we might be aware of whale meat being eaten in Japan, the threats to dolphins are usually from fishing nets and captivity. Now, according to Martin Robards of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Alaska, dolphins are among the many animals facing “the bush meat problem”.

Extensive research done by Robards and Randall Reeves of the Okapi Wildlife Associates in Quebec, Canada, reveals that dolphins are being eaten in the coastal regions of west Africa, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, the Philippines and Burma. Some of these may have been caught unintentionally but many will have been sought out as a replacement for other, dwindling sources of protein.