Another dead dolphin has been found on Kuakata sea beach in Patuakhali, within five to six hours of the first. It is three feet long. Earlier that morning, a dead Irrawaddy dolphin eight feet long had washed up on the beach.

Members of the Blue Guard spotted the dolphin near the Jhaubon point of the beach at about 2pm on Friday (20 August). The animal was later buried.

Sagorika Smrity, assistant researcher for Patuakhali district of the ECOFISH-2 project, said: "Hearing that a dead dolphin had washed up on the beach in the morning, I was going there with members of my team (Blue Guard). Suddenly one of our guards saw a dead dolphin lying on the beach. I then informed the Kalapara upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), and on his instructions it was buried."

Ruman Imtiaz Tushar, team leader of the Kuakata Dolphin Protection Committee, said the dolphin found in the morning was eight feet long and the one found in the afternoon three feet long. The second was an Irrawaddy dolphin calf, he said.

He added that dead dolphins often wash up on Kuakata beach with the tide, with blood in their mouths and signs of injury. "But I think if the fishermen who go to sea to fish were given training, dolphin deaths could come down," he said.

Kalapara upazila fisheries officer Apu Saha said it could not be said exactly why the dolphins are dying. These dolphins live on fish, so most of the time they die after getting caught in fishermen's nets. Sometimes they also die of old age, and after death they are carried ashore by the tide, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.