Report Dead Porpoise Wales

[Muredac Ford]

Unfortunatelywildlife strandings to sometimes occur on the Pembrokeshire Coast. Over the years pilot whales, dolphins, porpoises and beaked whales have all become stranded. During the months of August through to November, seal pups can also sometimes be seen in distress.

Hundreds of seabirds have been washed up on beaches on the South Pembrokeshire coast recently. The birds are being regularly removed, although more are being washed up between the clear-ups. Most are guillemots, although razorbills and gannets have also been reported.

Reporting the marine wildlife that you see can make a big contribution to managing the marine environment. Pembrokeshire Marine SAC covers a large area and, as with the marine environment in general, there are still many things we do not know about the marine life that lives here. If you are out and about on the coast, on the sea or under the sea, you can help improve our understanding of marine species and their management needs by reporting your discovery.

If you come across a dead marine dolphin, whale, porpoise, seal, basking shark or turtle along the coast, get in contact with CSIP at / to report it. If the animal is still alive report immediately as for injured marine life.

When reporting a dead stranding please give a clear description of location, species if known, overall length and condition of the animal (such as fresh or very decomposed). Depending on the location and condition the team may also retrieve the animal for investigation at post-mortem to allow the cause of death to be established.

The leatherback, the largest marine turtle, is the species most frequently recorded in UK waters. Each summer, leatherbacks migrate to UK waters where they feed on jellyfish. The Marine Conservation Society are keen to record sightings of marine turtles from across the UK. They also record sightings of jellyfish. Wildlife sightings Marine Conservation Society (mcsuk.org).

Help Project Seagrass better understand seagrass distribution and health by sharing your seagrass sightings to the Seagrass Spotter map: www.seagrassspotter.org/map. Find out more about Project Seagrass at www.projectseagrass.org.

This project aims to better understand and safeguard the Critically Endangered Angelshark (Squatina squatina) through fisher engagement, heritage and citizen science. Find out more about the project and how you can get involved at www.angelsharknetwork.com/wales/.

INNS are animals or plants which have been introduced from parts of the world where they are naturally not found. They have the ability to damage the environment, economy, health and the way we live. To help understand and reduce the impact of INNS species, you can report sightings to the GB Non-native species secretariat www.nonnativespecies.org. The spread of INNS can be reduced by following biosecurity campaigns such as check clean dry (www.nonnativespecies.org/checkcleandry/).

If you suspect pollution, or have any concerns about damage to wildlife species or habitats contact Natural Resources Wales through their incident hotline on 0300 065 3000 or email i...@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

We learn a huge amount from people like you who walk our beaches and see our wildlife. There are a number of agencies waiting to hear your reports. From whales to mermaid's purses; seals to seaweed, please help by reporting what you have seen. Where possible, please take photographs, please take basic measurements if you can or put something in the photo for scale - perhaps your foot.

It's not just about wildlife, click here for non-wildlife finds.

If you see a dead dolphin, porpoise or whale, please report it as soon as you can (even if you're not sure which it is). Call the CSIP hotline on 0800 6520333 with as many details as you can - when and where you saw it, how big it is, what it looked like etc.

Basking sharks are those ones with huge mouths which are always open to take in sea water which they sift for plankton. They are harmless to humans. If you are lucky enough to see one, please fill in this form to report your sighting.

If you find lobster pot tags, these fine people would appreciate you taking a photo of them, making a note of when and where you found them, and getting all the information off to them at their facebook page: Littora

Cefas, the Centre for Environment

Fisheries and Aquaculture

Science are asking for various tags to be returned to them. They tag fish in experiments to record fish behaviour, growth and fishing catch rates.Most of the commercial species have been subject to tagging on all major fishing grounds.

We're urging the British public to report strandings of dead seals across English and Welsh coastlines and waterways to help our scientists further understand the threats facing marine mammals on our native shores.

Seals are keystone species, meaning that they play a crucial role maintaining biodiversity within their ecosystem, so any threats to them will have a knock-on effect on the marine animals they live alongside.

We know from decades of investigating cetacean strandings that the reasons behind these events can be varied and complex. Expanding our remit into seal mortality too will help us build a detailed picture of the pressures that seals in UK waters are facing and how we can protect the future of these essential species.

Rob continues: Monitoring seals populations and mortality is essential to allow us to spot any future outbreaks of PDV or other diseases such as influenza or mouth rot at an early stage. In light of recent positive cases of avian flu found in UK seals, we need to gain a better understanding of this new and emerging issue.

This much-needed expansion of our CSIP project work has been made possible by an eight-year grant from Defra, and will be co-ordinated with partner organisations including the Cornwall Marine Pathology team, Natural History Museum, Marine Environmental Monitoring and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network.

Our CSIP research has directly contributed to measures being taken to reduce unstainable cetacean by-catch in fisheries and an EU-wide ban on dangerously polluting chemicals, as well as helping to discover a decompression sickness like condition in cetaceans.

Seal mortality sightings in England and Wales can be reported to the CSIP by calling 0800 652 0333. It is important that members of the public do not approach or touch any dead seals spotted due to the risk of them carrying disease.

Support our work fighting for UK wildlife, from reintroducing over 1,000 dormice to leading cutting-edge science of whale and dolphin strandings. We are wherever native wildlife needs us. Support our work recovering British wildlife.

Zoological Society of London is incorporated by Royal Charter with Company Number RC000749. Registered Charity in England and Wales number 208728. Registered address: Regent's Park, London, England NW1 4RY

The UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) reported the dolphin detections on its updated list of nonavian wildlife avian flu detections. The dolphins were found dead on beaches in the middle of February, one in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the other in Devon, Britain.

Also, Swedish scientists writing in Emerging Infectious Diseases this week reported the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in a harbor porpoise found stranded in shallow water off the country's western coast in late June of 2022. The animal swam in circles and drowned shortly after it was found.

The carcass was frozen and sent to the National Veterinary Institute in Uppsala for necropsy and testing, which revealed the virus in lung and bronchial swab specimens. High viral loads were found in the brain, followed by the lungs, kidneys, liver, and spleen. The virus was circulating in wild birds at the same time and area, suggesting a likely spillover from birds.

They found no signs of mammalian adaptation other than what had already been found for the clade. "The clinical manifestations and presence of virus in diverse organs, including the brain, indicate the potential risk of HPAI viruses to mammalian hosts even without adaptation. This risk is a consideration for persons in close contact with infected animals," they wrote.

In other H5N1 developments, the UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) today reported the virus in 10 South American bush dogs that are part of a captive breeding program at an English zoo. The animals were tested following a mammal die-off in November. Ten of 15 bush dogs died or were euthanized over a 9-day period.

DEFRA said the bush dogs had minimal clinical signs before they died, and the APHA can't definitively say if H5N1 caused the clinical signs. Avian flu wasn't suspected at the time, and H5N1 was found in postmortem samples.

In US developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) over the past few days reported several more outbreaks in commercial and backyard poultry from five states. Pennsylvania reported eight more outbreaks at commercial farms, one at a turkey facility in Chester County and the others in hard-hit Lancaster County.

APHIS also added four more mammal H5N1 detections to its list, raising the total to 148. Three were skunks, and one was a raccoon. Two of the infected skunks and the raccoon were reported from Montana, and one of the skunks was reported from Kansas.

Our seas are among the best in Europe for spotting whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals. Seeing one is a true privilege, and reporting it can make a huge difference to our understanding of marine wildlife, allowing us to better protect it. This page will help you know who to report a sighting or a stranding to, and what to do if you come across a beached animal.

Finding a stranded animal can be distressing. Though your first instinct may be to try to help it back into the water, you should never try to do this - they have stranded for a reason and require urgent professional medical attention.

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