Dozens of dolphins become stranded off Florida Keys (March 2005)
Keys Treasures
Posted March 2 2005, 9:34 PM EST
MARATHON, Fla. -- About 49 dolphins stranded themselves Wednesday off
the Florida Keys and more than 20 were in a nearby canal or boat
channel, officials said.
The rough-tooth dolphins were reported on flats and sand bars about a
quarter of a mile off Marathon, said Laura Engleby, a biologist with
the National Marine Fisheries Service. They were in about six inches of
water at low tide, she said.
``Right now the stranding network is busy stabilizing all the
dolphins,'' Engleby said.
Marine mammals may strand when they are sick, injured or disoriented,
she said.
Denise Jackson, a member of the Marine Mammal Rescue Team assisting the
dolphins, said darkness and the extreme low tide was complicating the
search.
``We're running boats in and out of an unlit channel at night,'' she
said.
_____________________________________________________________
Braving cold waters, rescuers work with two stranded rough-tooth
dolphins Wednesday night off Marathon, Fla. Dozens of other dolphins
stuck in the sand were also being aided.
· Beached dolphins
March 3: Forty dolphins remain beached on a sand bar off the Florida
Keys while others are in a canal, rescue coordinator Blair Mase tells
MSNBC-TV.
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 3:21 p.m. ET March 3, 2005MARATHON, Fla. - Having moved to
deeper water most of the dozens of dolphins that had beached themselves
off this Florida Keys town, experts on Thursday awaited blood tests to
see which ones can be returned to sea, which need rehabilitation and
whether any of the weakest ones need to be euthanized.
Stranding coordinator Blair Mase told MSNBC-TV that three had died, but
that number later changed to four. Some 110 dolphins had approached the
shallow waters Wednesday afternoon, and 75 or so then beached
themselves.
Mase said that when she arrived Wednesday night "the dolphins were
spread out and they were talking to each other, whistling, and so our
main goal at that point was to get all the animals together, which
immediately called them down."
Volunteers and experts stood for hours in the cold water to help
stabilize the dolphins, most of which have since been corralled into a
nearby fenced-off canal to prevent them from again beaching themselves.
Rescuers did not know yet what pushed this group too close to land, but
Mase said rough-toothed dolphins were highly sociable. That made them
"common mass-stranders - if one or two are ill, the rest will
follow them."
Denise Jackson, a member of the Marine Mammal Rescue Team assisting the
dolphins, said Wednesday night that darkness and the extreme low tide
had complicated efforts. "We're running boats in and out of an
unlit channel at night," she said.
Marathon is on Key Vaca, in the middle of the Florida Keys about 46
miles east of Key West. The dolphins were stranded on the ocean side of
the island.
Keys Treasures
tropical, subtropical and warm temperate waters around the world.
Classification: In 1823, Cuvier first described this dolphin. The genus
Steno, comes from the Greek for 'narrow snout', while the specific name
refers to the artist who first noticed the animal in Cuvier's material,
van Breda.
Local Names: Slopehead; Delfin de Pico Largo. The common name is
derived from the fine ridges running down the enamel of each tooth.
Description: This species has an almost reptilian appearance, with long
gape, large eye and cone-shaped head. Though robust, the Rough-Toothed
Dolphin is also streamlined, with a narrow dorsal cape. The skin colour
varies from dark or bluish grey on the back and tail stock to lighter
grey on the flanks. The dorsal cape is a darker grey, while the belly
and undersides are pale pink-white. Yellow-white blotches along the
skin are the scars from bites of Cookiecutter Sharks. The lips of both
jaws are white, and each jaw contains 20-27 pairs of teeth. The maximum
length is 2.8m, although most specimens have measured 2.4m and have
weighed around 150kg.
Recognition at sea: The Rough-Toothed Dolphin can be confused with
other dolphin species at a distance, particularly the Spotted, Spinner
and Bottlenose Dolphins. However, the distinctive narrow dorsal cape is
a characteristic of only the Rough-Toothed Dolphin. At closer quarters,
the blotches on the body, white lips and cone-shaped head should also
be sufficient means of identification.
Habitat: Rough-Toothed Dolphins prefer deep water with a surface
temperature of around 25ºC.
Food & Feeding: It appears that Rough-Toothed Dolphins take a variety
of fish species, free-swimming octopi and squid.
Behaviour: The typical family unit contains Between 10-50 individuals,
but occasionally can number more than 100. Rough-Toothed Dolphins also
associate with other small cetaceans, and are powerful swimmers. They
do not bowride as often as other species, but do 'skim', swimming
rapidly with only the dorsal fin exposed above the surface.
Longevity: Unknown.
Estimated Current Population: Unknown.
The Influence of Man: A few Rough-Toothed Dolphins are killed by Japan
and St Vincent (Lesser Antilles) in drive fisheries or by harpoon. Some
are also caught accidentally in tuna fisheries. They have been held in
captivity with success in Hawaii and Japan, being good-natured animals.
keystr...@gmail.com
The U.S. Navy is looking into whether the activities of a submarine
using
sonar off the Keys may have played a part in a massive dolphin
stranding this
week off Marathon.
BY JENNIFER BABSON
jbab...@herald.com
KEY WEST - The U.S. Navy is investigating whether sonar used in the
training
activities of a submarine off the Florida Keys this week may have
contributed
to the mass stranding of more than 80 deep-water dolphins, at least 19
of
which have died.
Groups of rough-toothed dolphins mysteriously began beaching off
Marathon on
Wednesday afternoon -- within 24 hours, and perhaps less, of exercises
conducted off Key West by the USS Philadelphia, a submarine based in
Connecticut.
A Navy spokeswoman said Friday she did not know if the sub was still in
the
area the day of the stranding or if the vessel was using active sonar
--
considered by some scientists to be potentially harmful to marine
mammals -- during
its mission.
''This is absolutely high priority. We are looking into this. We want
to be
good stewards of the environment and anytime there are strandings of
marine
mammals, we look into the operations and locations of any ships that
might have
been operating in that area,'' said Lt. Cdr. Jensin Sommer, spokeswoman
for
Naval Submarine Forces, based in Virginia.
EVIDENCE
There's a growing body of evidence that active sonar sound waves may
harm
marine mammals such as dolphins and whales, injuring them in the ears
and around
the brain, disorienting them, and prompting them in some cases to
strand.
Marine mammals use sound for just about everything, from feeding to
navigating to
finding a mate.
Scientists surmise that sonars may disorient or scare the marine
mammals,
causing them to surface too quickly and creating the equivalent of what
divers
know as the bends -- when nitrogen is formed in tissue by sudden
decompression,
leading to hemorrhaging.
After a whale stranding in 2000 in the Bahamas, the Navy acknowledged
in a
report some marine mammal sensitivity to sonars, but has also argued at
times
that the extent of any cause-and-effect is scientifically vague.
Active sonar allows submarines and ships to spot targets and other
vessels by
emitting sound waves that bounce off objects, revealing distance and
location.
Necropsies already underway on the dead dolphins in Marathon may shed
some
light on whether the animals suffered any damage to acoustic brain
tissue, a
potentially key indicator of sonar damage. But test results could take
months.
NOTHING RULED OUT
''It's fair to say we will be looking at any potential contributing
factors,
and that's everything,'' said Laura Engleby, a biologist with NOAA
Fisheries,
which is coordinating the stranding response. ``We aren't ruling
anything
out.''
The Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental group,
successfully sued the military in 2002 to limit use of new,
low-frequency sonar
believed by some to be particularly damaging because of its ability to
travel
extremely long distances. Some types of sonar can be extremely loud --
as much as
235 decibels at close quarters, equivalent to the noise made by a
rocket on
takeoff -- according to the council.
''Whenever naval exercises coincide with a mass stranding of marine
mammals,
the government has a responsibility to investigate the connection. We
call on
them to do that now,'' Michael Jasny, a senior policy consultant with
the
council, said Friday.
SOME RETURN TO SEA
About 20 of the initial group of stranded Keys dolphins made their way
back
to sea by early Thursday, while 14 were euthanized Friday because of
their poor
condition. More than 30 others remained in care of biologists and
volunteers
in a makeshift pen late Friday, from where they were expected to be
transferred to rehabilitation facilities.
Whale and dolphin strandings are not uncommon in Florida and elsewhere.
Various factors have been blamed -- from a few sick animals luring an
entire pod
toward land, to pollution and algae blooms.
But renewed attention has been focused lately on sonar as a potential
cause.
''The more we look now, the more incidents we see,'' Jasny said. ''In
recent
years attention has been increasingly paid to the effect sonar is
having on
other species'' besides whales. ``We are only beginning to understand
the
impact.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11057549.htm
keystr...@gmail.com
(Steno Bredanensis) strandings in Marathon, I thought it would be a
good time to introduce you to the Marine Mammal Conservancy
http://www.marinemammalconservancy.org/
Volunteers are needed right now! Ongoing need for volunteers is
anticipated as this effort continues. Volunteers are asked to register
by calling MMC, however at this point will be welcome to respond
directly to the rehab site.
DETAILS OF SHIFT COVERAGE:
With 25 dolphins in rehab, a total of 30 Volunteers are needed at any
given shift. At least 12 of those vounteers are in the water offering
support to dolphins unable to swim freely, and the rest are in various
stages of readiness to get in and take over or offer additional
physical support if/when necessary.
THE VOLUNTEER HOTLINE IS OPEN. If the line is busy, please be patient,
and keep calling.
VOLUNTEER HOTLINE : 305-451-4774
Please click here
http://www.marinemammalconservancy.org/how_to_help_volunteer.html for
more information about volunteering.
DIRECTIONS TO THE MMC SITE: Take US 1 to Mile Marker 102 in Key Largo,
Bay side. Turn in at the Large concrete Bellsouth tower through the
gate to the North of the tower down to the site.
Keys Treasures
By David Ball db...@keynoter.com
http://www.keynoter.com/articles/2005/03/23/news/news14.txt
Posted-Wednesday, March 23, 2005 10:10 AM EST
The rehabilitating rough-toothed dolphins that stranded themselves in
Marathon waters March 2 are improving, but still weeks away from being
released, marine-mammal experts said.
"Their white blood cell-counts show that many of the animals are still
fighting illness," said Robert Lingenfelser, president of the Marine
Mammal Conservancy in Key Largo.
"We had a conference call [Tuesday] morning," Lingenfelser continued,
"but with these dolphins still on antibiotics, it is still too early to
talk about a release."
Of the original 26 dolphins transported to the MMC facility, 13 have
survived and most are swimming in the deep-water basin and lagoon.
Lingenfelser said necropsies and blood tests still haven't pointed to a
single cause for the others' deaths.
At the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team site on Summerland Key,
three of the original four dolphins have survived and are also doing
well, despite one female with a crooked fin.
"She has secondary skeletal muscle damage from the stranding and her
tail is curved right behind her dorsal fin," Rescue Team Stranding
Coordinator Celeste Weimer said.
There are still two dolphins alive at the Marine Animal Rescue Society
facility in Miami, making it 37 rough-toothed dolphins that have died
since close to 50 were rescued from the flats off Marathon.
Officials said the groups are still in need of volunteers and
donations. To volunteer in Key Largo, call 451-4774. On Summerland,
call 797-0102 or 395-8731.