{"id":49634,"date":"2025-08-07T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T05:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/49634\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T05:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T05:30:14","slug":"warning-after-multiple-dolphins-injured-by-boats-in-cornwall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/49634\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning after multiple dolphins injured by boats in Cornwall"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Thorpe<\/p>\n

BBC News, South West<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

There have been a number of reports of injured dolphins, a conservation charity says<\/p>\n

Boat owners in Cornwall have been warned to stay away from marine animals after several dolphins were injured.<\/p>\n

Cornwall Wildlife Trust said it had received “shocking footage showing multiple injured dolphins” from the Mevagissey to Fowey Ferry crew on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The charity said the images showed at least five dolphins with damaged dorsal fins, including two which had been completely cut off.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the trust said a vet examined the injuries and said they had most likely been caused by high-speed watercraft or propellers.<\/p>\n

\"MevagisseyMevagissey to Fowey Ferry crew<\/p>\n

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust said at least five dolphins were injured<\/p>\n

Dorsal fins – which help with movement and balance – are unique to each dolphin and once damaged cannot regenerate, the charity said.<\/p>\n

Bosses at the trust said they had received a number of reports recently of boats going towards or through pods and urged people to be “sensible” when out on the water.<\/p>\n

The charity said it is illegal to intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or disturb cetaceans – whales, dolphins, and porpoises – under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.<\/p>\n

It added there had been an increase in the number of dolphins spotted in Cornish waters and a rise in waterway activity with recreational boats over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

“Whilst this can lead to spectacular encounters for us, it also brings them into our very busy coastal waterways,” Rebecca Allen, marine conservation officer at the trust, said.<\/p>\n

“We urge water users to please keep at a sensible speed and follow government guidelines if they do see marine animals: reduce to slow, ‘no-wake’ speed and keep to a safe distance \u2013 at least 100m (328ft) away.”<\/p>\n

‘Concerning’<\/p>\n

Dan Barrios-O’Neill, head of marine at the trust, said the damage caused to the dolphins’ dorsal fins could contribute to reducing the animal’s survival over time.<\/p>\n

He said the incidents of boat strikes on dolphins in Cornwall had become “concerning”.<\/p>\n

Mr Barrios-O’Neill added: “They may do ok [after a boat strike], but they may not and it’s certainly a contributing factor to making their lives a bit more difficult.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Thorpe BBC News, South West PA Media There have been a number of reports of injured dolphins,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-49634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}