MASS ANIMAL DIE-OFF: Disaster Precursors - Around 300 Turtles And A Bottlenose Dolphin Found Dead In India?!

© Orissadiary.com

January 22, 2016 - INDIA - The Puri Beach in Odisha turned into a graveyard for around 300 Olive Ridley turtles and a bottlenose dolphin. The marine animals were found dead here on 20 January.

Although turtle carcasses are usually found near Pantha Niwas on the beach during winter, the sheer number of the dead animals spooked locals.

According to news reports, the forest and marine fisheries authorities have seized two trawlers for carrying out unauthorised fishing - despite a ban which was put in place due to the nesting season of the turtles.

Collector of Puri, Arabind Agarwal, told the media that a report had been sought from the concerned agencies. He said:

"This is unfortunate that a large number of Olive Ridley turtles died on the beach. It seemed that they were hit by trawlers."

The Beach Protection Council of Odisha (BPCO), a voluntary organisation working for the protection of the beach has given a memorandum to Aggarwal demanding strict implementation of the fishing ban between November and May.

Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a sculpture of the turtles with message "Give us space to live" on Puri beach.

Recently, around 80 whales were washed ashore on the southern coast at Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu. At least 40 of the short-finned pilot whales died despite rescue efforts.


WATCH: Dead sea turtles wash up ashore in India.

- Catch News.

MASS ANIMAL DIE-OFF: Eighty Sea Turtles Wash Up Dead On The Coast Of Guatemala?!

August 31, 2013 - GUATEMALA - An assortment of marine animals and birds reside along the black volcanic sand beaches of Guatemala's Pacific coast, but lately both residents and visitors on the southeast beaches of the country have observed a tragic event - the stranding of dead sea turtles.

Among the stranded sea turtles were leatherbacks, a critically endangered species. © Michael Patrick O'Neill/Alamy

Eighty dead sea turtles have been recorded since the first week of July on the beaches of La Barrona, Las Lisas, Chapeton and Hawaii according to a statement released by the Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association (ARCAS), a Guatemalan non-profit organization formed by citizens in 1989.

"The entire coast has historically been a significant nesting area for olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles," Colum Muccio, ARCAS administrative director, told mongabay.com. While not known to nest in Guatemala, east pacific green turtles forage in estuaries and mangrove waterways along the Pacific coast.

Tucked between Mexico and El Salvador, the 250 kilometers of coast is divided by 14 river mouths and peppered with beautiful mangrove wetlands and lagoons. In 1993, ARCAS initiated conservation activities in the Hawaii area with hopes of counteracting threats to leatherback and olive ridley sea turtle populations. The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is currently listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, while the olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as Vulnerable.

"We manage two of the 24 hatcheries on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, and carry out research and advocacy for sea turtle conservation," Muccio said.

According to the statement, nearby residents are worried because sea turtles are a valuable resource. Not only do the sea turtles draw tourists to the coast, but, despite their endangered status, the eggs are also a source of income.

"Sea turtle conservation efforts in Guatemala rely on the use of hatcheries, which are managed as part of a quasi-legal egg harvest," Muccio said. "Villagers are permitted to collect eggs that are deposited on Guatemalan beaches on the condition that 20 percent of each clutch is donated to a nearby hatchery."

The system was initiated in the mid 1980s to promote the sustainable use of sea turtle eggs, Muccio continued. The operating hatcheries along the Pacific coastline function at various levels based on financial resources of the administering organization.

Muccio states many hatcheries are underfunded, short-staffed and operating with limited scientific knowledge. Several hatcheries do not carry out beach monitoring or research activities, contributing to the deficit in accurate nesting and stranding data.

"Many projects are lacking in the key elements necessary for the present community-based conservation system to function successfully," Muccio said.

In addition to egg harvesting, one of the main threats to sea turtles on the Pacific coast of Guatemala is fisheries by-catch. The statement notes that the appearance of dead turtles on the beach coincides with the presence of shrimp trawlers in waters off these beaches.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that when shrimp trawlers appear in the ocean that we begin having stranded turtles," Muccio said.

Although Guatemalan trawlers are required to use turtle excluder devices (TEDs), Muccio said that enforcement is difficult and fines are very light.

"We are currently working on instituting a ban on bottom trawling," said Muccio. "This has recently been done in Belize, Costa Rica and Ecuador and El Salvador doesn't allow them closer than 3 miles from shore."

Leading marine turtle conservationists and researchers presented a petition to the government of Guatemala expressing their concern. According to the statement, the petition requests that the government take action to counter the mortality of sea turtles, including the monitoring of shrimp trawlers to establish the impact on marine turtle populations.

"Sea turtles are also very much part of the identity of the local culture and local communities often take pride in their hatcheries and their contributions to save the sea turtle," Muccio said. - Guardian.

MASS FISH DIE-OFF: 50,000 Dead Starfish Found on Irish Lissadell Beach!

November 12, 2012 - IRELAND - Extreme weather conditions have killed tens of thousands of starfish and left them strewn across a sheltered beach.  A carpet of pink and mauve echinoderms, a family of marine animals, appeared yesterday morning on Lissadell Beach in north Co Sligo. 

Lissadell Beach, Co Sligo, strewn with dead starfish. © Unknown.

The adult starfish, measuring between 7cm and 20cm in diameter and estimated to be up to 50,000 in number, stretched along 150 metres of the strand.  Marine biologist and lecturer at Sligo Institute of Technology Bill Crowe speculated that they had been lifted up by a storm while feeding on mussel beds off shore.  "The most likely explanation is that they were feeding on mussels but it is a little strange that none of them were attached to mussels when they were washed in," he said.  He added that if they had died as a result of a so-called 'red tide' or algal bloom, other sealife would have been washed ashore with them.  "These were almost all adult size and the typical starfish variety that is found in the North Atlantic but there was nothing else mixed in with them," he said. 

Surveying the unusual scene, he placed some in a bucket of seawater to test whether they were alive, but while this prompted a slight response from one or two of the creatures, the vast majority were dead.  Tim Roderick, District Conservation Officer with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, agreed the phenomenon was most likely caused by recent bad weather.  "They turned up almost certainly as a result of an exceptional storm event.  "A storm hit the seabed where these sub-tidal animals were and lifted them up and washed them ashore," he said.  A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government said that investigations were continuing into how they came to be washed ashore but initial indications pointed to the stormy weather, which has been a feature in the north-west in recent days.  In a similar episode earlier this year, thousands of dead starfish washed ashore on Youghal Beach in Co Cork.  Scientists speculated that they, too, had been thrown on to the beach by an underflow, which was probably caused by a storm at sea. - Belfast Telegraph.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: Mass Stranding and Die-Off - 100 Pilot Whales Stranded at Farewell Spit in New Zealand, Third Time in Two Months in the South Island, 34 Died Overnight!

Another effort is to be made today to try to free a group of pilot whales stranded on Farewell Spit. Around 100 whales stranded at the Spit, on the northwest tip of the South Island, around midday on Monday.

Pilot whales are stranded in the South Island for the third time in two months.

Thirty-four whales died overnight Monday, and while some did free themselves at high tide, about 40 remained beached yesterday. Efforts to refloat those whales at high tide yesterday were unsuccessful, and early today the Department of Conservation reported 35 live animals and four dead. DOC Golden Bay area manager John Mason said the whales that were still alive were in reasonable condition, and another attempt to refloat them would be made at high tide.

About 200 people, including DOC staff, Project Jonah members and volunteers, had tried to encourage the whales to swim away yesterday. But when the tide came in the animals had not wanted to leave from the area where they stranded, and when the tide went out they had remained beached. "We have a very short period of time to try to persuade them to leave. We tried very hard yesterday to physically push them out to sea. They didn't go." The spot where the whales were stranded is close to where 25 were stranded early in January. Seven of those whales died, while 65 whales died after becoming stranded in the same area in November. - Stuff.

WATCH: Pilot whales beached on Farewell Spit.

WATCH: Fight to save stranded New Zealand whales.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: Mass Stranding - More Whale Stranding at Farewell Spit in New Zealand, Third Time in Two Months in the South Island! UPDATE: Stingray Bites Boy at Theme Park in Australia!

A group of whales has been stranded around Farewell Spit, near the top of the South Island, for the third time in two months.

Pilot whales are stranded in the South Island for the third time in two months.

About 90 pilot whales were seen milling close to the shore around noon on Monday and have since grounded on a receding tide, Project Jonah chief executive Kimberly Muncaster says. Ms Muncaster says volunteers will care for the whales until nightfall, when the fast incoming tide will be a danger to the people. "There's a small chance the whales may refloat on tonight's high tide at 11pm, but we will be back at first light to assess the situation and assist DOC (the Department of Conservation) in their rescue response," she said on Monday.

"Hopefully we'll be able to keep as many whales as possible alive until nightfall." Project Jonah marine mammal medics have also been called to give the whales first aid. Volunteers with wetsuits are wanted, as are those who can work at the beach. They're asked to check out Project Jonah's website for a list of items they will need, which includes food, water, sunscreen and appropriate clothing. The spot where the whales were stranded is close to Farewell Spit, where 25 were stranded early in January. Seven of those whales died, while 65 whales died after becoming stranded in the same area in November. Farewell Spit is known as a whale stranding hotspot. - MSN New Zealand.

UPDATE: Stingray Bites Boy at Theme Park in Australia!

A six-year-old boy has been bitten on the finger by a stingray at a theme park on Queensland's Gold Coast. It happened at a Sea World exhibit yesterday morning. The boy's wound was treated by a nurse at the theme park and he was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Sea World says it is the first time such an injury has occurred since the Ray Reef attraction opened in 2009. The theme park says the exhibit will remain open. - ABC Australia.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: Mass Stranding of Whales in New Zealand - 7 Long-Finned Pilots Die, 18 Rescued at Farewell Spit!

Seven long-finned pilot whales died after being beached in New Zealand, but rescuers were confident Saturday they had saved the other 18 marine mammals that stranded.

Seven of the 25-strong pod died after they stranded late Friday on Farewell Spit at the northwest corner of South Island, conservation officials said. The surviving whales were floated off the beach at high tide. They were well offshore by late Saturday afternoon and heading toward deeper waters after earlier swimming north toward more shallow waters on the ebbing tide, said John Mason, area manager for the Department of Conservation. "They were quite lethargic at the start and ... we thought they could well strand on the outgoing tide," he said. Boats were used to try to point the whales to deeper waters, and people got into the water to encourage the animals to head toward the deep sea, Mason said.

"Then, just in the nick of time, they started moving eastward out of danger, and they're now well off Farewell Spit tracking southward into deeper water," he told National Radio. Mason said the pod's movements will be tracked during the night because there was still a risk the whales could come back into the shallow waters of the long, sloping headland spit area. But he said he was "confident" the 18 pilot whales wouldn't restrand. Project Jonah whale rescue group chief executive Kimberly Muncaster said volunteers would be checking beaches to "help locate further strandings before it is too late to save the animals." Adult male pilot whales measure up to 20 feet (6.1 metres) and weigh up to 3 tons, while adult females measure up to 16 feet (4.9 metres) and weigh up to 1.5 tons, according to the American Cetacean Society. New Zealand has several whale strandings along its coastline each summer, with mass strandings of as many as 450 whales occurring. Since 1840, more than 5,000 strandings of whales and dolphins have been recorded on New Zealand's coast. In November, 47 pilot whales died and 18 were euthanized after they stranded on tidal flats at the tip of Farewell Spit. Whale experts have been unable to explain why the mammals swim into dangerously shallow waters. - CTV.