Panaji: Wildlife activists are saddened by the increasing instances of injuries and deaths of marine species. An Olive Ridley turtle with its shell badly cracked was found dead on Vagator beach on Monday morning.
“The tally of dead turtles found along the coast has gone up to 18 in just over six months,” a source said.
On Saturday, a dead flippered visitor washed ashore at Majorda beach with its carapace smashed, probably from a collision with a boat.
In the last three days, two turtles have been found at Majorda and Vagator.
Meanwhile, a postmortem examination of the humpback dolphin which was found dead at Vagator beach three days ago could not detect the exact cause of death because of the highly decomposed condition of the carcass.
The autopsy was conducted at the Tonca-based disease investigation unit of the directorate of animal husbandry and veterinary services. “The dolphin may have died about a week ago and hence the carcass was highly decomposed,” a source said.
Drishti Marine lifeguards put flowers on the dead cetacean before it could be taken away for the autopsy. The lifeguards are proving to be important beach vigilantes, as they have been regularly reporting accidents and mishaps that involve marine species.
Incidents of high mortality of dolphins, porpoises and other marine species is coming to the fore after an exercise was initiated to compile data on such deaths and injuries. The study was launched by Terra Conscious, a marine conservation organization, in association with the forest department and Drishti marine. A total of 12 dolphins have been washed ashore dead during the last seven-odd months.
