Julia Whitty,

Ihope your not correct, but I fear that you are correct in surmising that climate change may be a part of this.

If it's all due to over fishing a ban may cause the cetaceans and sea birds to recover, if not...horrible dictu.

I hope theres is still something that can be done to save those species.
Dr.Q

I've been trying to resist making this comment for a week now. Unfortunately, I just can't help myself.

See, I've got this fishbowl with a message on it. It is made of incredible crystal with a phenomenal ring to it and is inscribed with the message "So long and thanks for all the fish"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long,_and_Thanks_for_All_the_Fish

Would that it were true and that the dolphins have merely left the planet prior to its impending destruction by Vogons.

Unfortunately, as a lover of wildlife in general and cetaceans as much as any family, I suspect that this is a truly horrific sign of things that have already come to pass and will only continue to get worse.

The sixth mass extinction is solidly upon us. The catastrophe that is its cause is humanity. We must do everything we can to protect as much of the biosphere as possible, for ourselves and for many species more beautiful than our own. In the grand scheme of the universe, it will matter even less than our puny, insignificant planet. In the smaller scale that concerns us, it will matter a lot.

Remember people, large warm blooded species fare poorly in mass extinctions. This includes, among many many others, dolphins and us.