Locals at Carteret Island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville have alleged that a stranded live dolphin beached on the shore was due to wounds inflicted by fishermen on a fishing boat.

Local Amanda Masono reported on her Facebook wall that lads had alerted her about the beached live dolphin on Wednesday morning.

“I was woken up this morning by our young boys saying a dolphin has beached at the far end of the island. So I took my daughter and went off to see what happened to the beloved creature of the blue.

She said it was believed that the dolphin was suffering from wounds induced by fishermen on a fishing boat which was sighted.

“I found that it had scratches on its body and tail and, was bleeding. There was a sign around its head that showed it was caught by one of the fishing boats and later released.

“Last light some people on the island spotted a fishing boat 5 Nautical Miles (9.3 KM) from the island; thus, the dolphin was caught probably by that boat as we have Dolphins and Whales recently spotted and frequenting our shores within our 3 Nautical Miles.

“Just imagine how many of these dolphins and whales are endangered because of the recklessness of these fishing boats. The poor dolphins teeth was removed by the cruel human beings.

“Please help us save these dolphins!” she wrote on her Facebook wall.

Authorities are yet to make a statement on this.