Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Center to Help Beached Whales

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

CARACAS, Oct 4 2004 (IPS) - The Venezuelan Environment Ministry is pushing for the creation of a special center to deal with cetaceans — whale and dolphin species — that end up beached on the country's coast. There have been 40 such cases in the past three years. Venezuelan waters are home to some 30 of the 80 existing whale and dolphin species.

''The most frequent is beachings of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which are not endangered, but are under special protection,'' Eddys Solórzano, the ministry's biodiversity expert, told Tierramérica.

The dolphins can measure up to four meters long and weigh as much as 300 kg. Most beachings are the result of an illness in the mammal, or accidents related to fishing or collisions with boats.

The new assistance center to help the beached whales and dolphins will be in the central coastal state of Vargas.

The beachings tend to occur most on Margarita Island and the coastlines of Sucre, Falcón and Vargas, said ministry biologist Clemente Balladares.