SOME-FIN GOING ON
Mystery as mutilated remains of 1,100 dolphins wash up on French beaches with activists demanding an investigation into record-breaking deaths
Scientists found 'extreme levels of mutilation' in the animals France's Atlantic coast
A RECORD number of more than 1,100 dolphins - many of them horribly mutilated - have washed up dead on France's beaches in recent weeks.
Conservationists say it is a mystery why there has been such a huge spike in numbers of mangled corpses discovered along the Atlantic coast.
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Some of the dolphins had their fins cut off and other sickening wounds such as broken jaws, scientists said.
The total of more than 1,100 recorded since January has already beaten the record number found in the whole of 2018.
Willy Daubin of La Rochelle University said: "There's never been a number this high.
"Already in three months, we have beaten last year's record, which was up from 2017 and even that was the highest in 40 years."
Autopsies carried out this year at La Rochelle's National Center for Scientific Research show "extreme levels of mutilation".
Daubin reckons 90 per cent of the deaths are caused by trawlers accidentally catching the dolphins in their nets.
But he says the reason behind the massive spike in numbers this year is a mystery.
"What fishing machinery or equipment is behind all these deaths?" he asked.
GRUESOME TOLL
The Bay of Biscay is a major hub for industrial fishing in the Atlantic.
Activists say it's common for fishermen to cut body parts off suffocated dolphins after they are pulled up to save their nets from damage.
The gruesome deaths have alarmed animal welfare groups and put pressure on President Emmanuel Macron - who has championed green causes with his slogan to "Make the Planet Great Again".
Ecology minister Francois de Rugy launched a national action plan and rushed to La Rochelle last week to announce measures aimed at protecting dolphins.
Plans including boosting research into acoustic repellent "pingers" - currently in use on trawlers in the region - which are designed to send unpleasant underwater sounds to make dolphins swim away.
But animal rights group Sea Shepherd said the measures don't go far enough and slammed the acoustic repellents as "useless."
It claims many of the trawlers they watch in the region don't activate the pingers, fearing they will scare off valuable fish, and only turn them on if they are being checked by fishing monitors.
Activists are demanding a cut in the number of big trawlers from French and Spanish fleets allowed to fish there.
Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France, said: "The government needs to take responsibility and act - especially Macron, who said he wanted to protect ecology."
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And she added: "The spotlight has been put on the trawlers that fish for sea bass, which is a scandal. But they were not the only ones responsible."
Aggressive hake fishing, which was given the green light three years ago after a long ban, coincided with the recent spike in dolphin deaths, she said.
Global seafood consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, according to European Commission.
Scientists predict current rates of fishing could drive dolphins to extinction.
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Sea Shepherd protest the mass slaughter of pilot whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands
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