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WDC2023-007 NMLC Release (16)

Seal Rescued in Marshfield Released Back Into The Wild

For Immediate Release, May 31, 2023 PLYMOUTH, MA - A young male grey seal that...

Norway ups whale kill numbers and removes whale welfare protections

The whaling season in Norway has begun on the back of disturbing announcements from the...
Image taken from an unmanned hexacopter at >100ft during a research collaboration between NOAA/SWFSC, SR3 and the Coastal Ocean Research Institute. Research authorized by NMFS permit #19091.

Southern Resident orca petition to list them under Oregon Endangered Species Act advanced

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted today to advance a petition seeking to protect...
Hysazu Photography

WDC and Conservation Partners Continue to Seek Oregon Endangered Species Protection for Southern Resident Orcas

On Friday, April 21st, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will determine whether the petition...

Begging for food from fishermen may be harming dolphins

Researchers at Savannah State University in the US have concluded that dolphins foraging for fish stuck in or stirred up by the long, submerged nets of local shrimp trawlers are passing on this knowledge and behaviour to other dolphins in their group.

 

However, the research, published in PLOS ONE, also makes reference to the trawling activity having wider, negative impacts on the dolphins, dividing the wider group into those that do beg or forage for fish in the nets, and those that don’t. As well as the physical risks to half the group who do get close to these shrimp nets, there is also a risk that the whole population will split completely into two sub populations (those that beg and those that don’t) that then don’t mix, and so reducing rates of reproduction.

Recently, researchers used data spanning 45 years to illustrate how contact with human’s puts dolphins at risk as they become ‘conditioned’ very quickly, and that this can place the dolphins in harm’s way.