Volunteers Help to Rescue Common Dolphin near Monmouth Beach

It is Saturday morning during a mid-November day. Somewhere out along the Appalachian Mountains there is a cold front that is anticipated to move eastward. The weather forecasters are predicting the front to come through the coastal regions of the Mid-Atlantic sometime overnight. Until then, the sky is partly cloudy. The atmosphere is moist with showers, some heavy at times, and it is unseasonably warm with high temperatures likely to be into the mid 60s. There are blustery winds blowing from the south. Moreover, a tornado watch has just been posted for the Jersey Shore until 7pm.  Yep, it is just another autumn day along the bay as we transition from summer to winter.

(A  4-foot long juvenile Short-beaked Common Dolphin that was recently found stranded in the Shrewsbury River. An adult dolphin grows to a maximum length of 8 feet.)

Down by the bay the influence of the stormy weather and a full November moon are creating an extremely high tide. Sure, whenever there's a full moon or a new moon, the sun and moon's gravity combine to create particularly high tides, known as spring tides. Yet, as the tide rolls in today, the surge does not end at the shoreline. A strong incoming tide is overwhelming the creeks and wetlands with a flooding rush of saltwater.  

Today seems to be a perfect day for me to spend indoors. Not only is the weather nasty, but I am still trying to shake a vicious bout of seasonal allergies that has left me under the weather and green about the gills for several days.  Nothing sounds better than staying in a cozy home and relaxing under a comfy blanket with a good book to read all day. Of course, as usual with my luck, the phone rings.

(NJ State Marine Police helped to keep a look out for the young dolphin until rescuers arrived from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center)

Last year I signed on to be a volunteer with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) in Brigantine, NJ, but have never been on a rescue call. Certainly, I have been called now and then by the folks at the MMSC to help rescue a seal or two during the winter, but usually I was at work or located too far away to provide any immediate help. All this changed today. I would have my first opportunity to save a marine mammal.

I receive a call from Bob at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. They just got word from a local homeowner that a Short-beaked Common Dolphin was stranded in the tidal wetlands of the Shrewsbury River, near Monmouth Beach. Perhaps the extraordinary lunar high tides of the past few days have pulled in a small group of normally pelagic dolphins as they migrate south in the ocean to follow small schooling fish. Now one of the dolphins is trapped and freezing to death.

No matter neither how it got there nor the pull of a comfy blanket, a marine mammal needs my help. So, I pull out my waders and pull on a pair of waterproof boots and a rain jacket. I get into my Subaru and head down to Monmouth Beach feeling sick.

(Do you see the blowhole? Dolphins are conscious breathers, which mean they have to think about every time they want to take a breath. They breathe through a nasal opening called a blowhole, which is located on the top of their head. Dolphins are not wasteful breathers. They are able to replace 80 percent of the air in their lungs with each breath, whereas humans are only capable of exchanging 17 percent.)

An exceptionally high tide is still moving in as I arrive to Monmouth Beach. I drive cautiously. Tidal floodwaters have filled the streets in back bay neighborhoods with water from an inch to about a foot in some low-lying areas. Drainage in these areas of the Sandy Hook Bay watershed will not occur rapidly when the tide is high during a spring tide cycle.

I arrive to the scene and it becomes immediately obvious that something out of the ordinary is going on, and not just with the tides. Many local residents are walking near the water with binoculars and cameras. A lot of people are pointing to the water. Numerous folks seem concerned and are trying to find ways to help. I start to realize that nearly the entire neighborhood is up and outside. Everyone has become a volunteer to help this poor marine mammal. What an astonishing sight!

(Volunteers and professional rescuers help to raise the dolphin out of the creek during high tide)

In the distance I spot a small 4-foot dolphin swimming in the creek. I wonder is this the sick dolphin? Then I bump into an elderly couple who live nearby. They tell me that the dolphin out there is the sick marine mammal. It was just stranded, but is now trying to swim a bit in the creek.

I look and the dolphin appears small and is most likely a juvenile. I meet up with another MMSC volunteer and put the big question to him. Is this dolphin related to the group that has been swimming nearly all summer and fall in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers? He tells me straight out - no!

This young dolphin is not related at all to the pod of Common Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins swimming by the Oceanic Bridge between Rumson and Middletown Township. This small marine mammal is a Short-beaked Common Dolphin, a totally different species. The critter is not common to small tidal creeks and wetlands. They are creatures of deep, open ocean waters, from Newfoundland to Florida, and especially abundant in continental slope waters from Georges Bank to Cape Hatteras. Short-beaked Common Dolphins are capable of diving to at least 650 feet to feed on fish at night. During the day, they usually rest.

One resident of Monmouth Beach let me know that she has heard in the past that occasionally small groups of Common Dolphins have been known to stray from the pack during spring and fall migration periods to follow food sources far up rivers along the western Atlantic. Nevertheless, she coveys to me that this is unusual to see such a young dolphin lured into such a small, shallow creek. What is more, water temperatures are chilly. They are around the low 50s and there is some concern the young dolphin is shivering. Perhaps, just like me, the critter is in poor health. Short-beaked Common Dolphins prefer warm tropical to cool temperate oceanic waters between 52-88° F. So, water temperatures are just at the tipping point in the Shrewsbury River.

(The sick dolphin is in a large stretcher and is about to be placed in the MMSC emergency vehicle. While this takes place, the young dolphin is shivering.)

People at the MMSC believe the juvenile has some kind of illness that is causing it to strand itself at the high tide line so far inland this morning. Experts fear now it is disorientated and will not survive another day.

I look around to see if there are other Common Dolphins nearby. I remember from reading a book about sea life and marine mammals that Short-beaked Common Dolphins typically gather in schools in as many as hundreds or thousands to as little as 30 or fewer. Yet, as I scan the waters of the Shrewsbury River, I don't see any additional dolphins. Sadly, this young dolphin is alone.

I find another volunteer with the MMSC and ask him about this disturbing detail. He discloses that the mother cannot be found and the father most likely was the dead adult male dolphin found yesterday near the construction barge next to the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge around 7:30am. I begin to get really concerned that something needs to be done to help save this dolphin.   

Thus far, we have been waiting for the MMSC biologists to arrive to help pick up and transport the sick critter to their headquarters in Brigantine for treatment. As we wait, a few volunteers get into kayaks and make sure the dolphin does not swim away. If the sick dolphin decides to swim back into the river, then it will be out of bounds for help.

Luckily, help arrives soon. Two biologists appear with wetsuits on and with a big truck. Inside the vehicle is a large stretcher to carry the dolphin from the creek to the safety of the motor vehicle. While some MMSC volunteers have been in the water trying to keep the juvenile dolphin calm, other volunteers now attempt to rescue the dolphin. They make a start to move it up and out of the water. Thankfully, the transfer is successful and easy. The two biologists depart and quickly transport the young, sick dolphin to a veterinarian who will make a call on whether the animal is too ill to save and should be euthanized, or whether it has enough of a chance to get better and be released.

Later on, I contact the MMSC and find out the sad news. The young dolphin did not make it. No matter the reality of the situation, it was certainly not something I was looking forward to hearing. Though death is a natural fact of life, it never seems to come easy.

As I look out to the bay, I am reassured that at least the dolphin did not die in vain. The experience brought many different people from Monmouth Beach together in hopes of saving a fellow mammal and an important piece of ocean wildlife. It showed everyone involved that we are more connected to the ocean than we may think. Moreover, people are now aware that there are diverse marine mammals in our local estuarine waters. So, hopefully, people will be out there to protect the local environment from pollution and poor planning.

Each year numerous marine mammals and sea turtles are found dead or stranded along the New Jersey coastline. Quite a few die from man-made pollution, such as ingesting plastics or cigarette butts. If dolphins are getting sick in our local waters, imagine what the pollution is doing to us. We have to be more responsible when it comes to controlling pollution, even something as small as plastic bags and cigarette butts. Pollution on land travels into storm drains, and into our local creeks, rivers, and bay waters.  We all need to clean up our communities and be more responsible.

So, while I've never had an experience like saving a dolphin before in my life, I hope I don't get another chance, or if I do, the next one is more encouraging. The struggle goes on to save wildlife in the bay.