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Scientists ask: Where have all the dolphins gone?
Breitbart ^ | 8/22/2007 | AP

Posted on 08/22/2007 1:31:26 PM PDT by oblomov

Sightings by marine scientists of dolphins in the north Atlantic's Bay of Biscay have dropped off by 80 percent compared to the same period in 2006, a wildlife conservation group said Wednesday. The alarming drop in numbers of the Bay's three most common species of dolphin -- the striped, bottlenose and common -- can be attributed to one or both of two causes, Clive Martin, senior wildlife officer for the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme, told AFP.

"We know for a fact that by-catch is killing thousands of dolphins every year," he said, referring to commercial fishing operations in the bay, which is formed by the northern coast of Spain and the eastern French seaboard up to the tip of Brittany.

Martin singled out French "pair trawlers" that sweep the ocean with huge nets twice the size of a football pitch strung out between them as being especially lethal to the marine mammals.

"Dolphins are sometimes trapped hundreds at a time, and are asphyxiated" when they cannot come up for air, he said. Most dolphins typically replenish their lungs with fresh air every five minutes or so, he explained.

The second -- and probably more important -- reason that dolphins have disappeared is that there is simply very little left for them to eat.

"Anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay has progressively failed, and this year there is a complete ban by Spain, France and the United Kingdom on the fishing of anchovies," a principal food source for dolphins, Clive said.

He speculated that the roving sea mammals -- which swim in pods numbering in the dozens for bottlenose dolphins, and sometimes in the thousands for the common dolphin -- had moved west toward the mid-Atlantic looking for food.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 42; coastalenvironment; dolphins; environment; flipperlunch; marinebiology
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To: dfwgator
You beat me to the punch!!!!

That's it then. Let's all head down to the pub for one last brew before the earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspatial express route!


41 posted on 08/22/2007 2:15:10 PM PDT by Dr._Joseph_Warren
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To: Samwise
Fabulous simply fabulous !!!!!! giggle
42 posted on 08/22/2007 2:17:00 PM PDT by Kimmers
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To: Hot Tabasco

Obviously the dolphins had not been properly “schooled” in socialism and the welfare state which says that they are victims, stay put no matter what, and the gov’t will provide free housing, food, med. care, etc. Since the anchovies #’s are down, good conservative dolphins will move on to greener pastures.

And no, they are not in the cans of tuna. Dolphins are way to big to fit in those little cans. :) sarc/off


43 posted on 08/22/2007 2:21:02 PM PDT by crazyshrink
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To: All

Umm...

Last Sunday my wife, my son, and I went to the beach (Seal Beach CA)... The dolphins were jumping out in the ocean, and the idiots swimming in the water were applauding them like they were watching a show at Sea World...

Plenty of those rascals in the Pacific... I mean dolphins are rascals... People are idiots...


44 posted on 08/22/2007 2:29:49 PM PDT by BigEdLB (BigEd)
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To: crazyshrink
Dolphins are way to big to fit in those little cans. :)

And they are way too smart to get caught in those nets.........

45 posted on 08/22/2007 2:46:23 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Farewell Turd Blossom, ya done good!)
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To: oblomov

all the dolphins are being secretely converted into weapons for the Bush administration to use in a bogus war to take over the world’s oil fiel....argh they’re coming! someone......help.....mmmmeeeeeeeee........


46 posted on 08/22/2007 2:47:35 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Hate me, I'm white.)
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To: oblomov

The Rapture. Looks like we didn’t make the cut.


47 posted on 08/22/2007 2:47:54 PM PDT by RightWhale (It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
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To: oblomov

Tuna should be farm raised and only fed mayonnaise so they can be slaughtered into tuna salad.


48 posted on 08/22/2007 2:49:24 PM PDT by Rb ver. 2.0 (Reunite Gondwanaland!)
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To: ex-Texan
Same place all the salmon went . . .

didn't Salmon Dave do that song, "Sole Man?"

ba da bing.

49 posted on 08/22/2007 2:49:37 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Hate me, I'm white.)
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To: BenLurkin
Here the are:


50 posted on 08/22/2007 2:51:49 PM PDT by Rb ver. 2.0 (Reunite Gondwanaland!)
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To: JRios1968

Yup ! the Bay of Biscay is a prime Tuna fishing area.


51 posted on 08/22/2007 3:00:25 PM PDT by Wil H (Islam translates to "submission", not "peace" - you can figure out the rest.)
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To: oblomov
I say cut open his stomach first and then we might solve this riddle.


52 posted on 08/22/2007 3:07:17 PM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: oblomov
Has anyone checked SeaWorld lately? b
53 posted on 08/22/2007 3:16:00 PM PDT by lunarville
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To: oblomov
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
54 posted on 08/22/2007 3:52:23 PM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck....... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.,)
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To: oblomov
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
55 posted on 08/22/2007 3:52:23 PM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck....... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.,)
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To: antiRepublicrat
? I was referring to this:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

What are you referring to??
56 posted on 08/22/2007 4:09:39 PM PDT by pillut48 (CJ in TX --Soccer Mom, Bible Thumper and Proud to be an American! RUN, FRED, RUN!!!)
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To: pillut48
"Missed it by that much" is the catch phrase of Don Adams as he played Maxwell Smart on the TV series Get Smart.
57 posted on 08/22/2007 5:21:07 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: oblomov
I see dolphins every day here in Chesapeake Bay.
We stole them all from the Bay of Biscay and offered them
amnesty..
58 posted on 08/22/2007 5:23:32 PM PDT by MaxMax (God Bless America)
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To: ErnBatavia

And the rest of the NFL has yet to match.


59 posted on 08/22/2007 5:58:43 PM PDT by Terpfen (It's your fault, not Pelosi's.)
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To: oblomov

“Long time passing...”


60 posted on 08/22/2007 6:25:48 PM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
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