§ Mr. WardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to investigate the cause of the strandings of dolphins on the Cornwall coasts earlier this year.
§ Mr. MacleanMy Department has had a contract with the Institute of Zoology—IOZ—since August 1990, to co-ordinate the investigation of cetacean strandings in England and Wales. One of the objectives of this contract is to allow for a swift and thorough investigation of stranding incidents. In the first three months of 1992, 105 common dolphins were washed up on the north and south coasts of Cornwall and Devon—substantially more than those recorded in previous years. The IOZ examined the evidence from 38 individual post-mortems conducted by the institute itself and by the MAFF investigation centre at Polwhele. The IOZ has also conducted or arranged tests for evidence of disease and contaminants.
The institute has submitted a report on the incident to my Department which is being placed in the Library of the House. The post-mortem examinations suggest that fisheries entanglement may have been the principal cause of this incident. The animals appeared to be in a good nutritive state and free of serious disease. Tests for a range of contaminants, including heavy metals and PCBs, have shown nothing unusual. There was no evidence of he seal virus which has been known to affect cetaceans elsewhere. There is, however, some evidence of an increase in the number of common dolphins present in south-western waters at the time of the incident.