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Japanese whaling ship

Infamous whale slaughter ship docks for the final time

The whaling ship, Nisshin Maru has returned to the port of Shimonoseki for the final...
Sperm whale

Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Porpoise dies after becoming entangled in fishing net

UK government rejects chance to protect whales and dolphins

The government has formally rejected almost all of the crucial recommendations made in a House...
Common dolphins © Christopher Swann

Ocean areas selected for conservation are now in danger says task force

The international task force celebrating 10 years of work mapping out Important Marine Mammal Areas...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
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Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Japanese whaling ship

Infamous whale slaughter ship docks for the final time

The whaling ship, Nisshin Maru has returned to the port of Shimonoseki for the final...
Sperm whale

Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Porpoise dies after becoming entangled in fishing net

UK government rejects chance to protect whales and dolphins

The government has formally rejected almost all of the crucial recommendations made in a House...
Common dolphins © Christopher Swann

Ocean areas selected for conservation are now in danger says task force

The international task force celebrating 10 years of work mapping out Important Marine Mammal Areas...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...

New report reveals increase in whale and dolphin strandings in UK

WDC team attend striped dolphin stranding

A report on whale and dolphin strandings in the UK during the last seven years has revealed that the number of strandings increased by 15% on the previous period. The study was carried out by the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Between January 1st 2011 and December 31st 2017, there were 4896 reports of whale and dolphin strandings. The species most frequently involved were harbour porpoises and short-beaked common dolphins. The increase in reported strandings was largely the result of an increase in reports of porpoise strandings around the UK, and common dolphins in the southwest of the UK in particular.

Sarah Dolman, WDC's bycatch lead, welcomed the report's publication. "The UK strandings work is invaluable for us to understand the natural and human-induced causes of death in whales, dolphins, porpoises and other marine species that strand and die around our coastline. We commend the important work that the CSIP team do, and WDC are proud to assist where we can.

This latest report provides more evidence of the harm that we can cause whales and dolphins through bycatch, pollutants, ship strikes and noise pollution to name a few. WDC will use this work in all ways that we can to highlight and work to reduce these pressures that whales and dolphins face in UK waters."

52 of the strandings events involved two or more whales or dolphins, including large events involving long-finned pilot whales. 21 species in all were recorded, including Cuvier's beaked whales and sperm whales.

Post-mortems carried out revealed that disease was the major cause of death in porpoises while disease and bycatch were factors in common dolphin strandings with a large number also live-stranding.

Further analysis for the period from 1991 to 2017 show that bycatch was the major cause of death in stranded whales and dolphins during the period. Ship strikes were involved on several occasions while the study also found a relative increase in starvation in stranded harbour porpoises in recent years.

Another worrying revelation is that concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, whose use has been banned in the UK since 1981, remain high with the greatest risk posed to long-lived whale and dolphin species such as bottlenose dolphins and orcas. The impact on orcas is particularly worrying as it has been observed that some female orcas in European populations are now failing to produce any young.

Find out more about strandings

Download the full report

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About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.

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