Three common dolphins and four seals have been found dead in Waterford Harbour over the past week, according to the environmental group Coastwatch.
It has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Charlie McConalogue to investigate the possible causes of the loss of so many large sea mammals in a relatively small area.
Some were found in a Natura-protected area close to the mouth of Waterford estuary.
Coastwatch director Karin Dubsky said there were two verified reports of mortalities in the harbour area, and circumstantial evidence they may have been caught in “bycatch” – unintentionally trapped in nets used by boats fishing for sprat in the vicinity.
“The injuries were in keeping with those one would expect from net injury,” Ms Dubsky added.
The Irish Times reports she had raised the issue with the Minister and asked him to outline what he proposes to do as a matter of urgency in response to the destruction of dolphins and seals.
Ms Dubsky said there was a need for sprat fishing to be restricted in the harbour to conserve other species, while much smaller twaite shad and salmon populations were also vulnerable as a consequence of sprat fishing; an issue flagged “as long ago as 2015 by the Marine Institute”.
