Trapped dolphin freed from marina

Date : 30/01/2006

A dolphin which had been trapped in a Cumbrian tidal harbour in Maryport Marina for almost a month has been set free by rescuers.

Marine life experts were worried that Marra, a 2ft-long bottlenose dolphin, was losing weight and decided to drain the marina and net the animal. Such was the deterioration of Marra's conditionn that conservationists had warned that it might have to be put down.

There was concern that cold water, pollution and contact with humans were all taking their toll on the mammal, which arrived in Maryport just before Christmas. Tony Woodley, a director of BDMLR said “the dolphin could die if ice formed in the dock again as it did last month… the dock is far from a healthy habitat for this animal”.

“The water is very cold compared to the open sea and there is considerable freshwater throughout – both these factors are likely to harm the dolphin in the long term and this is a unique and very difficult situation”.

Tony Woodley, a spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, said “the rescue was launched due to the dolphin's flagging health in the cold. Experts were also worried that Marra, who usually lives in saltwater, was suffering in the freshwater of the marina which was bleaching its skin due to lack of salt”.

A vet examined the dolphin in the morning and soon after high tide at 2pm, the harbour was allowed to drain, leaving the dolphin in a shallow pool. This allowed three divers to catch the mammal in a soft net.

Mr Woodley said: "It was a fantastic rescue and everything went just like clockwork. The decision was made to leave the lock gates open as the tide went out so the water level in the harbour decreased”.

"A rescue team went into the water when it was around one metre deep and formed a semi-circle around the dolphin.

"It was captured and put on to a waiting stretcher and then lifted on to the harbour by a crane. We then loaded it on to a trailer and took it to a waiting boat where it was taken out to sea and released."

A vet was at the marina to monitor the animal's stress levels and examine it during the operation.

Marine experts were never able to establish whether the animal was male or female.

Mr Woodley added: "It was seen to dive and surface around four or five times and then, just like a Hollywood ending, it was seen to meet up with another dolphin and they swam away together. A really happy ending."

"The encounter with another dolphin was not expected at all," said Tony Woodley, BDMLR director. "I can't comment on whether the second one was related but that they should have met up so quickly is quite remarkable, just tremendous."

A 100-strong crowd gathered to watch the operation which was also overseen by the police, the RSPCA and the RNLI.

Marra had become a popular attraction for visitors who had flocked to the marina to catch a glimpse.

An attempt to coax Marra out into open waters using specialist equipment failed last week. Conservationists had been using a "bubble wall" - a sophisticated rescue device with a compressor and a length of weighted hose with holes cut at strategic places. It was hoped that the curtain of bubbles this created would force the creature to swim over the harbour's lock gates. But Marra was frightened of the mechanism of the harbour gates, which are regularly opened and closed, and could not be persuaded to cross them.

Source: BBC, News and Star, Independent

Back to Main News Page