- NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) -- More
than a hundred dolphins, eight marine turtles and five beaked whales have
washed up dead on the windswept beaches of southern Mauritania in recent
days, puzzling scientists and worrying the government.
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- Experts from the West African country's Institute of
Oceanographic Research and Fishing visited the scene but were unable to
take any samples because of the advanced state of decay of the corpses,
the government said late on Thursday.
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- It was the third June in a row that scores of dead marine
mammals had suddenly appeared along the country's coastline, but authorities
voiced concern at this year's number of deaths, which included 139 dolphins.
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- "A special programme is being drawn up and a team
of specialists will be on the shore when the phenomenon is at its height
to make real-time observations," the Fisheries Ministry said in a
statement. It did not say when the observations would begin.
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- A team of scientists from Holland did laboratory tests
on samples from corpses beached in the region last year but failed to find
any virus responsible for killing the animals.
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- "Nonetheless the Dutch scientists still favour a
viral infection as the explanation," the statement said.
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- The waters off Mauritania's barren coast are home to
one of the world's largest concentrations of fish, crustaceans and molluscs,
as well as hammerhead and tiger sharks, dolphins, turtles, and a dozen
species of ray.
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- They are also home to Africa's largest marine park, a
12,000 square km (4,500 square mile) expanse of ocean which was declared
a world heritage site by UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation, in 1989.
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- The impoverished West African country has taken steps
to protect its treasure trove of marine life. Some of its fishermen agreed
a landmark deal to stop fishing shark and ray from the park earlier this
year after four years of negotiation.
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