Dolphin strandings report published
Thursday 25 June 2009
Read the report into last year's common dolphin mass stranding event in Cornwall and watch the interview with the team members.
© PA
The comprehensive investigation into this mass stranding of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) on 9th June 2008 was co-ordinated by the collaborative UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) which is currently managed by Institute of Zoology, ZSL.
Project Manager Rob Deaville said: 'This has been one of the most intensively studied mass stranding events that has ever taken place. As a result of the investigation, we can say that the findings were most consistent with the mass stranding occurring due to one or more triggering factors.
'We’ve been able to rule out a wide number of potential causal factors, but cannot rule out the naval exercises either indirectly or directly impacting on the dolphins seen unusually close to shore in the days immediately preceding the mass stranding.'
The investigation was funded by Defra through a variation to the current contract with ZSL.
Watch ZSL's Paul Jepson and Rob Deaville explain their findings in the video below:
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The partner organisations of the CSIP are Institute of Zoology, ZSL, the Scottish Agricultural College (Inverness), the Natural History Museum and Marine Environmental Monitoring.
Other organisations that contributed to the report included British Divers Marine Life Rescue, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, Universidad de las Gran Palmas Gran Canaria, Veterinary Laboratory Agency (Truro) and Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre in Cornwall.