Marinelife has 13 years' worth of sightings to draw on, observers having collected their data by travelling aboard cross-Channel and Biscay ferries.
It says sightings of common, striped and bottlenose dolphins are down by 80 per cent this year, compared to previous averages.
The possible cause, thinks Marinelife, is a big decline in fish stocks, due to either over-fishing or sea-temperature changes, or a combination of the two.
Sightings of birds, including auks, shearwaters and gannets, were also down, reinforcing the low-fish-stock theory.
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