Small N.L. town calls on coast guard to help save trapped dolphins

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
CBC News

Dolphins swim behind drifting pack ice at Seal Cove on Wednesday. (Pam
Snow/Canadian Press)

The mayor of a small, coastal village in Newfoundland has appealed to the
federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to send out icebreakers to save
five dolphins that have become trapped in the community's harbour.

Seal Cove Mayor Winston May said if the white-beaked dolphins are not
rescued soon, they will likely die.

The dolphins became trapped in a small hole in the ice about 30 metres from
shore four days ago and are desperate to find a way out, May said.

Dolphins need open water to breathe, but there's about 500 metres of ice
blocking their escape, the mayor said.

"They're not going to survive much longer," May said.

The mammals keep swimming in circles in the hole, which is about 30 metres
by 200 metres, May said.

"They keep going round circles and trying to keep this little pool of water
open so that they can have their breathing area," he said.

Residents in the community on the western side of the Baie Verte Peninsula,
about 400 kilometres northwest of St. John's, believe the dolphins chased
fish into the harbour but then became trapped when a storm pushed ice from
the open ocean into the area.

No one in the community of 400 has a boat big enough to break through the
so-called slob ice, a thick carpet of slush and frozen chunks the size of
dinner tables.

May said the community has contacted the Fisheries Department to see whether
the coast guard can send an icebreaker to help free the dolphins. But
officials told the town that no vessels were available, he said.

"Those dolphins there last night, they were all crying," Seal Cove resident
Stanley Banks said. "You could hear the screams coming out of them. And they
were trying to break the ice there just to survive. And there's us here
empty-handed. And DFO with all this money won't even send a boat in here to
let those out? It's a crime."

May said local residents have come to him in tears because they are so upset
and concerned for the dolphins. It is the first time he's aware of that
dolphins have become trapped in the harbour, he said.

Icebreakers could crush dolphins: expert

Even if an icebreaker could be sent, it may not be the best option for
rescuing the trapped dolphins, said Wayne Ledwell, a Newfoundland and
Labrador expert on rescuing trapped whales.

"Those boats push ice ahead of them and that can crush the animal, and that
has happened before," Ledwell said.

He added that it's not unusual for dolphins to get stranded and that about
half of the animals that become trapped do survive.

Officials are monitoring the situation. A change in weather may help free
the dolphins.

Forecasts call for temperatures to rise over the next 48 hours and for the
winds to change direction.
With files from the Canadian Press

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/02/18/trap-dolphins.html