Dolphin Mortality Rates Continue to Rise Off the Coast of South Australia

A South Australian wildlife research team has released an update on the investigation into the unusual dolphin deaths off the coast. Statistics show that there have been a total of 29 cases of bottlenose dolphins stranding and dying over the past six months. The research team has preliminarily determined that the incidents were caused by a combination of multiple environmental pressures: fertilizer runoff from coastal farmland has formed seasonal hypoxic zones in coastal waters; ships in the port continue to discharge oil-contaminated ballast water; and overflows from coastal wastewater treatment plants have introduced large amounts of microplastics and persistent organic pollutants into the ocean.