Whale found dead on beach in Meath

borderlinemeath

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0620/457762-whale-meath/

Not quite a pet issue but pertinent to dog walkers and local wildlife.

The dead whale was on my local beach, I never usually head as far as Laytown but I've been heading to the beach in the evening times with the hot weather. Was down there last night until about 10.30 but didn't see anything but the tide was fairly well in. Don't really feel like heading down tonight and looking at a dead whale:( as I'm sure there'll be plenty of onlookers who saw it on the news.

I've noticed the past couple of weeks there were a good few dead fish washed up on the beach, some sea birds and hundreds of dead crabs. (a couple of the dogs are mad to eat them:mad:) At Easter there was a massive amount of shellfish washed up and thousands upon thousands of starfish, which stank to high heaven for a few weeks as it decomposed. I wonder what's happening out in the seas that all this sealife is getting washed up? Does anybody know is it happening anywhere else along the east coast or specific to Mornington/Bettystown/Laytown?

fartyarse

I'm 100% convinced it's sonar testing by the navy...

I'm also 100% convinced I'll get torrents of slagging for posting this...

DBB

I think I can answer that for you borderlinemeath!
Nothing to do with sonar testing (well, may be the death of the whale does.. but not the dead invertebrates!), but more to do with the extremely damaging method of fishing for razorshells and cockles that has become so popular off the northeast coast in the past decade.
They are subject to a season alright, but the way they fish for these species destroys all in it's path: essentially, they dredge the sea bed with large, metal cages dragged behind small trawlers, or suck up the sea bed through a hose, filtering what comes up. It is utterly indiscriminate, and all of those beasties you mention get sucked up in the process, getting discarded in their millions to be washed in on the next easterly wind. Like you, I've seen pile upon pile of dead starfish, brittle stars, urchins, crabs, and bivalves just a little further up the coast from you, stretching for hundreds of yards. I only saw this sort of thing starting in the past 10 years or so, because I lived on the beach for some years before that and it was a rarity to see many of the beasties that now make up these small mountains of dead things.
The dredging nature of the process also destroys their habitat.
Who knows what the knock-on effect of this is going to be in years to come? They're destroying habitat, killing billions of creatures which provide food for other creatures up the food chain. We'll regret it some day.

Whispered

It really is a heart sinking feeling to read something like that

borderlinemeath

If you click on the RTE video report they think the whale that they managed to save in Laytown was possibly looking for the stranded calf that died in Mornington . So sad.

Horrible about the dredging. It's horrific, it is literally piles and piles of dead sealife. Is it illegal DBB? Or is it a practice that is freely allowed, unrestricted?

DBB

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Horrible about the dredging. It's horrific, it is literally piles and piles of dead sealife. Is it illegal DBB? Or is it a practice that is freely allowed, unrestricted?

Perfectly legal. It is restricted to some extent by them having open and closed seasons to do it in, but even that seems to be a movable feast. I think a lot of the problem is that it's a new problem, this form of fishing has really only taken off here in recent years, and it's going to take time for any half-decent legislation to catch up with it.
Still, now would be a good time to write letters to he who is in charge of such things: the Minister for the Marine is Fergus O'Dowd, Louth TD. This is all happening on his doorstep.

I watched the video from the news in your post above: that fella from the Coastguard (Gerry Creighton) is, I'm reasonably sure, the same fella who saved a dog's life on, was it Donabate beach or thereabouts, last year? Ye might remember it was really early one morning, the owner was throwing a ball for her collie, who ended up with the ball stuck in his throat. She said she tried for 10 mins to free the ball, and was convinced her dog was a goner, when she looked up and saw the Coastguard jeep, like an angel, driving at the water's edge. She waved for help, and this fella managed to perform the doggy equivalent of the Heimlich Manoeuvre on the dog, saving his life! The dog was fine!

Edited to add:
Here's the story! http://www.her.ie/story/an-unusual-rescue-quick-thinking-irish-coast-guard-volunteer-saves-dog-by-performing-cpr-934371

borderlinemeath

Yep, I remember that story, and I've heard it from numerous dog owners and it's managed to stay true to the actual story without any chinese whispers adding to it:D.

Meath CoCo are now responsible for the body and are supposed to bury it. Although there was a seal washed up on Mornington a few months back and they never bothered to do anything with it. I phoned them and I'm sure others did too.

CJhaughey

DBB wrote: »

Still, now would be a good time to write letters to he who is in charge of such things: the Minister for the Marine is Fergus O'Dowd, Louth TD. This is all happening on his doorstep.

I think you'll find the Minister for the Marine is Simon Coveney
O'Dowd is in charge of the NewEra project as Minister of State.

DBB

CJhaughey wrote: »

I think you'll find the Minister for the Marine is Simon Coveney
O'Dowd is in charge of the NewEra project as Minister of State.

Yes, you're right. O'Dowd's department is in charge of inland fisheries, which was recently split away from the Dept. of the Marine. I can't keep up with these regular changes sometimes!