Over four hundred dolphins have been found in the Pacific Coast as local scientists reported; it was disclosed that 220 were spotted over the last week of January and the remainder over the previous three weeks.
In the year 2012, this same expanse was the final resting place for more than 800 whales, the cause of death is still unknown by authorities. Samples of livers, kidneys and lungs have been sent to laboratories for further examination.
Jaime De La Cruz, an engineer from the Imarpe Marine Life Agency stated the analysis of the cause of mortality of said cetaceans would be released in approximately two weeks. Dolphin carcasses bordering the thousands were found on the coast of Peru between February and April 2012. Imarpe's report following this finding did not indicate the root of the dolphin's demise but hypothesized it was due to 'natural causes', mainly marine bio toxins and contaminants. Carlos Yelpen from the Scientific Organization for Conservation of Marine Animals described the dolphin's high mortality as "very serious".
"It is possible the dolphins have died due to contamination or from the impact of petroleum plants in the area," he told AFP. According to Jorge Cabrejos, President of the Association of Mariculturists of Lambayeque, the anchovies that the dolphins feed on consumed polluted plankton, which resulted in the poisoning of the dolphins.
Cabrejos determined artisanal piscators are responsible for dolphin fatalities. Peru is home to 34 of the 81 cetacean species in the world of which 17 of them are dolphins. The most common dolphin species found in the Peruvian waters are the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) and the Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). The Tropical dolphin is one of the latest species to migrate to the Peruvian sea, abandoning the warmer waters that constituted as their common habitat and can now be seen swimming on the shoreline.
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