What’s killing the dolphins in Brazil’s Sepetiba Bay, once a sleepy fishing village with white sand beaches but now an industrial port with chemical plants about 40 miles from Rio de Janeiro? As more and more of the native Guiana dolphins have died there recently, scientists think they are victims of pollution that kills marine life.
In a sense, scientists think the 200 or so dead dolphins are “sentinels,” the first victims of a fractured ecosystem. They are dying from a virus, similar to the one that causes measles in humans, that causes a rash, fever, respiratory infection and disorientation. Indeed, some of the dolphins were seen swimming sideways and alone before they died.
Because of changes in the water, local fishermen have resorted to using larger nets recently to catch an ever-smaller supply of shrimp, sea bass and sardines. But the larger nets also inadvertently can catch dolphins too.
And while the growth of the port has provided a boom in new jobs and prosperity, it has a human cost too. As one hotel manager told The New York Times, “We suggest our clients not swim in this beach.” Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/world/americas/brazil-dolphins-sepetiba-bay.html
