The demand of dolphins is so high that fishermen are pulling out everything from pipe bombs to .357-caliber Magnum pistols to fend them off – and breaking a federal law against harming the sea mammals. The head of a national fishing organization, Bob Zales II, said the problem of bottlenose dolphins stealing fish has gotten “tremendously worse” in the last year.
The captain of a Florida-based fishing boat is serving two years in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to making pipe bombs and tossing them at dolphins, which are protected by federal law. Two other captains have pleaded guilty to shooting at the animals in the Gulf of Mexico, home to tens of thousands of dolphins, in the last three years.
It’s dangerous for dolphins to compete with people for fish, regardless of whether anglers fight back. According to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service forty-six of the animals are known to have died along the Florida coast since 2005 after either swallowing recreational fishing gear or becoming entangled in lines. Marine experts and boat captains agree there’s a problem, but they differ over why some animals have become so brazen.
Stacey Hortsman, dolphin conservation coordinator with the National Marine Fisheries Service in St. Petersburg, Fla., told that studies have linked the dolphins’ behavior with people feeding dolphins, often from sightseeing tours that are common in many resort areas. She also said that it is a very complex management issue for us because it is such a widespread problem.
