Friday January 24, 2025

Bosaso (HOL) – Nearly 140 dolphins were found along the shores between Bosaso and Mareero towns in Somalia’s Puntland region on Thursday.

Residents living near the coast reported that about 140 dolphins were stranded on the shore, with some already dead and others in critical condition.

The Puntland Ministry of Environment and Climate Change issued a statement confirming that it is collaborating with the Ministry of Fisheries to conduct an urgent investigation into the cause of this unusual occurrence.

The regional government has warned local residents against consuming the dead dolphins.

The Ministry of Environment identified four potential causes for the incident: changes in seawater conditions leading to food shortages, migration of fish that prey on dolphins to the coast, health problems or diseases in fish causing dolphins to seek shallower waters, and disturbances from water pollution or marine noise that may disrupt their behaviour. Also, fishing-related harm, such as entanglement in nets, was considered a possibility.

However, local residents are insisting that chemical waste may have been dumped into the ocean, potentially contaminating the dolphins.

Somalia has long been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste, starting in the early 1990s and continuing throughout the civil war. Containers of hazardous chemicals have frequently been spotted along Somalia’s shores, raising concerns about the impact on marine life.