ACCRA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Ghana have launched investigations into the incidents of stranded dolphins and dead fishes at two separate locations along the country's shores, an official told Xinhua Tuesday.
"Some live dolphins were trapped by waves and driven towards the sandy beach in Axim, a coastal community in the Western region on Sunday," said Michael Arthur-Dadzie, Executive Secretary of the Fisheries Commission.
He said some fishermen picked up between 60 and 80 of the live dolphins to sell to dealers in its flesh and parts before officials could reach the scene.
"This phenomenon occurs at various locations in the world from time to time. These are carnivorous mammals and while they follow smaller fishes to feed on, they could lose their navigation path and get trapped by tidal waves, which wash them ashore," Arthur-Dadzie explained.
He added that "some of the sea mammals that hit the shores in Axim died due to suffocation and trauma. These have been buried by our officials and the fishermen associations. But some live dolphins were also rescued and released into the sea."
Arthur-Dadzie also confirmed that about 20 tons of dead fish were washed to the shore at Osu, a coastal community in the Ghanaian capital.
"We have commenced investigations to establish the cause of these incidents. This will help us ascertain whether the dolphin incident and that of the dead fishes were due to natural causes, or there had been some human activities contributing to the situation," he stated.
The Fisheries Commission, Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency, and some of the country's universities are collaborating in the investigations which include laboratory analysis of parts of the fishes and dolphins.
He was, however, confident that the incidents would not affect Ghana's global rating in the protection of sea mammals, "because our response to the developments was swift."
The FDA said it was monitoring all fish markets in Ghana to prevent the sale of any of the dead fish washed ashore to consumers.
Mike Ababa-Edu, an executive member of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council, described the incident as isolated, urging the regulatory bodies to intensify their education of fishermen so they could help protect endangered species in the sea. Enditem