The high demand for shark fin soup is causing an alarming rise in the killing of dolphins off the coast of Tanzania, which an official says fishermen use illegally as bait for the predatory fish.

Most dolphins have been protected by the country’s fisheries regulations since 2009.

But Sibylie Riedmiller, Secretary of the Tanga Tourism Network Association, told the country’s Daily News that tourists report seeing the “distressing” killing of dolphins within plain sight.

She said dolphins are being actively targeted by dynamite fishermen around the city of Dar es Salaam because “their flesh makes a very good bait for sharks.”

While the slaughter of dolphins to feed the illicit shark fin market is disturbing to many, researchers recently warned that as many as one in 15 of all sharks on the planet are fished from the oceans each year.

The trend threatens to put the species on the path to extinction.

Photo: File