Another dolphin found dead near Surat in 3 months

SURAT: A second dolphin was found dead within three months near the city on Thursday morning. The dead dolphin was of young age, forest officials said. Every year, at least three such incidents are reported from south Gujarat coast. Fish in huge numbers are also washed ashore in the coastal areas of the region where incidents of oil spill occur at regular intervals.

The dolphin was on Dumas beach. It came along with the high tide on Wednesday. Forest officials informed that the body was partially decomposed and that it might have died five days ago.

"The tail of the dolphin was completely decomposed. There was no visible injury mark on its body. We will get the postmortem done," said S R Jasani, assistant conservator of forest, Surat.

"I spotted the body on Wednesday morning. Since it was away from the coast in the muddy land, I could not reach it. It was washed ashore on Wednesday night by high tide," said Rupa Rathod, a cold drink shop owner at the beach.

The dolphin was believed to be young considering that its length was just seven feet. Earlier a dolphin was recovered from Tapi river on March 3 and it was 8.5 ft long. Five dolphins had been spotted by a fisherman in Tapi and Arabian Sea estuary near Magdalla village in February.

"The rivers and rivulets don't carry water but industrial effluents to the sea. Dolphins have been a regular visitor to south Gujarat's coastal area. However, the polluted water is becoming the cause of their death," said Darshan Desai of Prayas, an NGO

Anil Patel, regional head, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, was not available for his comments.