A team of health officials, policemen and National Security officials has retrieved quantities of smoked melon-headed whales (dolphins) in Upper Axim and Bewire in the Nzema East municipality in the Western Region.
Residents got wind of the dead sea mammals through the pungent smell that emanated from them when fishmongers begun to smoke them.
The fish processers are said to have contracted people to chop the dead fishes into pieces for processing, while others prepared fire in kilns to smoke them.
Although agencies in food, environmental safety and fisheries moved in to retrieve the washed-ashore fishes from Osu and dolphins at Axim and Bewire, some fish processors in the Nzema East municipality resolved to smoke and sell the fishes, against the caution by health experts in the region.
2021-04-08 17:30:37 GMT2021-04-09 01:30:37(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
ACCRA, April 8 (Xinhua) Local government assembly of Nzema East in Ghana s Western Region said Thursday that 30 stranded dolphins had been rescued alive along the shores in the region and released into the sea.
A statement by the assembly said it received a tip-off from an eyewitness describing how the residents who were present when the mammals washed up the shore captured and sent home the huge number for domestic and commercial purposes.
It said around 200 dolphins were washed up to shore last week, and 68 of them were retrieved by the authorities. A total of 30 dolphins were rescued alive, while 38 dolphins had already been buried.
Graphic Online
BY: News Desk Report
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A team of experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Fisheries Commission has released 38 of the dolphins that were washed ashore at Axim-Bewire last Sunday back into the sea.
However, 25 of the marine mammals that were found dead in the communities have been buried.
Officials said an estimated 120 dolphins were washed ashore alive, but they were weak and unable to swim back to their habitat.
Some people picked 29 of the sea mammals to the communities but a search found all of them dead.
Consequently, 25 of the carcasses were buried, while four were taken to the University of Cape Coast for examination.
Fish washed ashore is not new in the world.
However, the bizarre nature of a pod of dolphins mysteriously appearing at the shores of Brawire in the Nzema East municipality of the Western Region, Accra, 48 hours after dead fishes were washed ashore in the Ghanaian capital has raised eyebrows.
The food and drugs authority, scientist and other research fellows have now switched into action in an effort to unearth the cause of the bizarre occurrences. Dr Edem Mahu is a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Ghana.
Something that scientists are also interested in is that is there any anoxia or low oxygen? We can also think about physical disturbances such as the kind of techniques that some of our fishermen use in fishing, Dr Mahu says.
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