On dead dolphins and (dead) science

This piece and a whole lot of drama surrounding it, marked my entry into the blogosphere waaay back in May.



Know what? I didn't think I was a bunny hugger until I got terribly saddened at reading of the demise of HUNDREDS of dolphins in Zanzibar at the end of April this year.

Truly the end is nigh.

Couldn't hold back a shout of laughter, though, when I read that "those who had eaten the dead dolphin meat were doing fine the following day". Guess that is when the hard working fisheries officials concluded the dolphins were not poisoned, they were simply... lost. Well, glad to see we humans aren't the only ones who are lost and on the path to self-destruction.

So now, because we ate the money for the forensic labs, the Swedes (ok ok it's us that I'm really mad at) took samples back to their labs in Sweden to test them there. What capacity will that build in Africa I wonder. And I don't see these mass die-offs stopping, meaning that every time there's one, the Swedes will pick up the tab on the lab work, while we get a few starving fishers to eat the meat so we can determine whether or not the level of poison in the dolphins was high enough to affect a skinny chap after one meal.

Of course it was sonar that killed them!! We just need to fine the culprits... but will they own up to it? "The most conclusive link between the use of military sonar and injury to marine mammals was observed from the stranding of whales in 2000 in the Bahamas. The U.S. Navy later acknowledged that sonar likely contributed to the stranding of the extremely shy species."

THREE HUNDRED (and by other accounts, up to 600) DOLPHINS... how long will it take to bring back those numbers? Probably never. You know... that vanishing biodiversity story finally sinks into my head, how can it not when this example is so graphic? This means the dugong (mermaids) were probably also buggered and just sank to the ocean floor leaving the intelligent dolphins to swim ashore and inform us of the genocide.

And are we serious when we claim to have marine research institutes which can't figure out what happened? (other than... whatever it was wasn't ingested 'cause the dissected dolphin tummies were empty). They don't have up-to-the-minute satellite info so they can't trace toxic algal blooms/pollution spills or hotspots, they're not listening underwater....

And what of disaster preparedness? Isn't this a natural disaster? Where are the rescue crews? No, not to rescue the dolphins (i'm not thaaaat much of a hugger) but to assist the villagers and fishermen in burying the carcasses (and giving people like me the chance to own a complete and intact bottlenose dolphin skeleton - any entrepreneurs out there? lots of money to be made from this (and future disasters)... just wait for the final tox results though - and cut me in on ...10% of net). Oh, and let's not forget that ever present fear that "it will affect tourism levels". I know it would affect my consumption of seafood for a while. What a hoax! And the tragedy is that on any given day, we can decide to turn it all (this mess) around, and we CAN succeed.

Another priceless quote: "Residents had cut open the animals' bellies to take their livers, which they use to make waterproofing material for boats." Glad to see there were positive outcomes. Lakini, knowing that there was inevitably someone was no, not loitering but... enjoying some leisure time at the beach, why didn't they help the animals? Not that it would have mattered anyway, once they beach themselves they're usually not interested in returning to deeper water.... besides, who would have come to help? Seriously though, we have to cease and desist being such hoaxes and allowing nothing (but corruption) to work in our countries!

Oh, but how can I stay upset for long when I find gems like this statement from Daily News in TZ: "In unprecedented move, about 300 dolphins were yesterday found dead in the Zanzibar waters of the Indian Ocean." Then there's the titillating promise in an article headed: "Cause of dolphins deaths to be made public today," in which a marine expert indicates: “We are at a crucial stage of our investigations. We shall make public the report any time tomorrow,’’ He also informs us the number of dead dolphins has been revised upward to over 600, and that divers who had been used in finding the dead marine wildlife 'called off the exercise yesterday, and finally lays bare the fact that we simply play at science and research by confirming that, "The government [is waiting] for the results of the samples that were sent to Sweden to determine how they died". Just two questions: does someone sit there and randomly pick stock phrases to insert into news stories? (yes dolphin brains are about as heavy as human brains, but still... 'an exercise to find dead marine wildlife'??) And this "unprecedented move", was it by the dolphins or by those who found them?

Another one: "Local residents say the north of the island has had strong winds and heavy rains, as well as big tidal water movement due to the new moon." ... last I checked, there was a tsunami a couple of years ago that was bigger than puny storm winds and spring tides, and we didn't see this sort of thing.

Checked out a couple of pictures, one of a marine biologist dissecting a carcass (no protective clothing in sight), and another of someone (fisher?) wading in the water, among the dead dolphins...(not to mention the villagers spiriting away chunks of free meat). The dedication (to science and stomach) is great but let's say maybe.... just maybe... it was a marine organism that had killed SIX HUNDRED! Dolphins... would you really want to be in the water/touch them without some form of protection?

"We believe that the dead dolphins are the immigrants from Southern Africa. They are not Zanzibar dolphins, so Zanzibaris, and specifically the tourism department, should not worry, we still have our dolphins" [and aren't we glad to hear that nature has finally! socked it to Southern Africa? NATURE doesn't sleep!].

"The … Zanzibar-based institute of marine sciences said at least 300 of the dolphins washed ashore had migrated from the Indian Ocean" ... straight onto its shores, in a rousing chorus of so long and thanks for all the fish.