While the number of dead dolphins washing ashore the city's coastline continues to rise, the state environment ministry seems to be oblivious to the incidents. As many as 10 carcasses of finless porpoises have been spotted across the beaches of the island city in the past one month, leaving marine biologists, conservationists, activists and researchers baffled, while the state department was caught being unaware of the shocking sightings. Speaking to Iamin on phone, Minister of State for Environment Pravin Pote-Patil claimed he was not informed of the occurrences, which has perturbed the city. “Beaches of the city are the prime responsibility of the municipal corporation, be it pollution or the incidents of dead dolphins washing ashore. The civic body should have informed the environment department immediately, however I have received no such information,” Patil said. He assured that his department would coordinate with the corporation and examine the autopsy report of the carcasses to determine the cause of death. “UInless we are able to pin-point the cause of death, we cannot initiate any specific response or mitigation steps. I will talk to the Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta on this and initiate a probe,” Patil said. Experts, activists vexed over unexplained deaths

A dead dolphin on Aksa Beach

According to experts, this is for the first time that the city has seen so many cases of dead dolphins washing ashore. What is more shocking is the apathy of the respective state and civic departments, which are still unruffled over the incidents.

While 10 carcasses were found, authorities only conducted autopsy on two of the dolphins, while the rest were disposed of immediately, after been found rotting with mangled internals. Officials at the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) corroborated of having performed an autopsy on a carcass and submitting the report to the Forest-Wildlife Department. Refusing to comment on the autopsy report, BSPCA officers claimed that only the Forest-Wildlife department could share information related to the cause of death. Environmental activists and conservationists expressed concerns over the unexplained deaths of these mammals in the Arabian Sea and called upon the state government to take immediate mitigative measures. "First and foremost they must investigate the cause of death, which would allow the responsible departments to act on those specific reasons," senior scientists at the National Institute of Oceanography, Dr Shankar Gajbiye said. Rise in the level of pollution in the waters could be one of the main cause of these deaths, he said, however only the detailed viscera-analysis would shed a light. Maharashtra State Angling Association’s Gordon Rodricks drew a similar spree of incidents in China, where a freshwater dolphin species - Baiji - found only in the Yangtze river, were wiped out due to pollution and overfishing. "In 2006, they declared that the Baiji Dolphins were functionally extinct. If we don't take necessary steps, these porpoises found in waters close to Mumbai might also be extinct in few years," Rodricks said. Found in the warm temperate waters of the western coastline, the humpback dolphins are a protected species - under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. However cases have surfaced wherein dolphins were netted in and around coasts of Alibaugh, Revas, Ratnagiri, Harihareshwar and Sindhudurg.

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