How to Help England’s Delightful Dolphins
England’s coast is home to many pods of playful smart dolphins (and similar-looking porpoises, although these are smaller, less social and have triangular rather than wave-like fins). As with all marine creatures, they are suffering from oil and plastic pollution, over-fishing, by-catch (when caught in nets) and ship strikes.
Don’t Drop Litter Anywhere
Nearly all rubbish eventually ends up in our seas. So live a simple sustainable life, and never drop litter off boats or by the coast (or anywhere). If you smoke, use a personal ashtray (that extinguishes butts until you find a bin). Get involved with local beach clean.
At home, stop oil pollution by wrapping small amounts of oil in kitchen paper and bin (same with cream liqueurs). For larger amounts, use an oil recycling container and take to the tip.
Also choose waterless car washes (driveway and supermarket car washes send untreated oily water down drains, and out to sea).
Be a Wildlife-Friendly Sailor
WiSE offers a five-hour course (refreshed every 3 years) be a wildlife-friendly sailor. Once passed, you can use their logo on literature, and put a notice on your boat. Always reduce your speed and make minimal noise (underwater sound drowns out dolphin communication). Read our post for sustainable sailors!
Never use jet skis, these cause noise pollution and injuries, and can separate marine creatures from their young.
Advocate for Ocean Sanctuaries
Donate to campaigns that fund ocean sanctuaries. These are where nobody owns them, and nobody is allowed to fish or pollute.
Of course seas have no borders, so it’s important not to pollute anywhere else too. So far Scotland has sa tiny ocean sanctuary, but England has none (though there are many worldwide.
Tackle Overfishing and Ghost Fishing Waste
Eat more plants and less fish (many dolphins get caught or drown in giant nets set for fish). If you eat it, buy seafood guaranteed not to use by-catch methods. And support schemes that retrieve ghost gear from the sea (this post includes info on fishing line recycling).
Avoid Tourist Aquariums
Avoid tourist aquariums, as they have nowhere near the space needed for one of the most social and intelligent creatures on earth. People often assume dolphins are happy, as they are always ‘smiling’. But dolphins can’t move their facial muscles, so always look this way, even if they are miserable, bored and depressed.
Also don’t let children ‘swim with dolphins’. These creatures hunt sharks in pods. You would not let your child swim with a shark, so why a dolphin? They can be just as lethal, if spooked.
Stop Cruel Dolphin Hunts
Join the campaign at Whale & Dolphin Conservation to stop cruel dolphin hunts in Japan, Faroe Islands, Peru, Sri Lanka and Ghana. Over 100,000 dolphins and small whales are killed each year, either for eating or to use as bait for the shark fin industry.
Your support helps the charity conduct undercover investigations, educate the public (many people in Japan have no idea what goes on) and ask businesses to stop using airlines that carry live dolphins captured during hunts, to send to zoos and aquariums worldwide.
How to Help Injured or Stranded Dolphins
Call British Marine Life Diver’s Rescue (or call the coastguard or RSPB who can put you through). Its volunteers can help, and run run training courses for marine mammal medic volunteers and the veterinary industry.
Don’t put injured dolphins back in the sea. Instead follow the five P’s while you wait for help:
- Protection (use a face mask and gloves, steer clear of the blowhole and trashing tails)
- Position (roll the creature onto its underbelly, dig trenches under pectoral fins for comfort)
- Pour water (to keep skin moist – soaked seaweed is a good option). Never pour pour water or cover seaweed over the blowhole, this is how marine creatures breathe).
- People (keep people and noise away, keep an eye out for tides and rough seas.
- Photos (send photos and videos to the BDMLR call handler)
- Also report dead dolphins (location, date, species, condition).
An Amazing True Story about Dolphins
We’ve all heard about dolphins circling divers, to protect them from sharks. Here’s a true story to amaze:
In California, a marine biologist who regularly watched a pod of dolphins, saw one ‘shoot off’ into the middle of the ocean, followed quickly by others. This was not normal, she she followed them 3 miles off-shore by boat, to see them circling a young woman in the water.
When she arrived at ER, a translator said the German girl had swam out, to commit suicide. The dolphins had known from 3 miles away, and swam from the shore to save her!
