Fort Kochi: The recent beaching of a dolphin carcass in Fort Kochi recently could be the indicator of a larger food chain rupture.
The sea mammal, probably a young one, which lives at a depth of 20m, could have been driven to the continental shelf region due to lack of adequate food in its habitat.
The dolphins feed on sardines and the tremendous drop in fish wealth over the years could have caused a food-stress, says V Kripa, principal scientist, Fisheries Environment Management Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi.
The small fish stock along the Kerala coast was fast depleting. Some 3.9 lakh tonnes of sardine was netted in 2012 and the stock dropped by 45 million tonnes in recent years, she said.
Dr Kripa said one cannot but be sure of the reason for the beaching as the species adapted well to cross-species food ingestion and chose alternative species for food when existing choices like sardines dropped.
She said this could be an isolated case but beaching of marine mammals was more common on the eastern coast.
“ It could have been driven to the shore due to food shortage or a vessel-hit. It could even be an odd case of the animal being mislead on direction due to ear balance issues,” she said.
She said a dolphin had swam into canals last year and was rescued and redirected back into the sea in Kochi though it seemed to not have survived.
