Two more dolphins showed up dead on the beaches of New Jersey in
recent days:
Officials with the Brigantine-based Marine Mammal Stranding Center tell The Press of Atlantic City that the dolphins were found Saturday in Sea Girt and Brigantine. That brings the statewide total to 68 since July 9.
The deaths have been declared an "unusual mortality event" by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to the significant number of dolphins found between New York and Virginia.
From New Jersey south to Virginia, more than 230 dolphin deaths have been reported. Although officials have said the dolphins appear to be dying from viral pneumonia, a precise cause is still unknown.
What's causing this wave of dolphin deaths? Scientists are unsure, but they see some similarities between these cases and a
1987 outbreak:
Many experts have drawn parallels to the 1987 outbreak of morbillivirus, which killed about 750 bottlenose dolphins along the East Coast between July 1987 and April 1988. But until there is hard evidence that the virus, which is similar to canine distemper and measles, is the cause, researchers and stranding experts will continue to seek the cause.
Unfortunately, it takes time AND money to research what's
happening to these dolphins:
Meanwhile, the centers all are struggling to pay for the immediate response and, as the start of school comes closer, many interns that worked through the initial part of the die-off have left, leaving fewer people available to handle the animals, paperwork and cleaning.
Funding is running low for all the groups. While donations are coming in as media attention mounts, many of the groups are wondering if the federal government’s contingency fund, which was set up to handle the large stranding events, will be able to help.
The Virginia Aquarium has completely exhausted its annual stranding budget, Barns said. In Brigantine, co-director Sheila Dean said the Marine Mammal Stranding Center just learned it can use about $26,000 in leftover federal grant money to pay for some of the mounting costs. Dean said necropsies that used to cost about $75 now cost about $145.
Will the U.S. government step up to fund this research? We're all connected and an "unusual mortality event" of any kind seems worthy of extra funding. Especially when we are consuming many of the sea creatures from these waters.