Dolphins rescued at Store Bay – Bathers, lifeguards help beached animals return to sea

LIFEGUARDS at Store Bay, Tobago, are trying to determine what may have caused nine dolphins to become stranded near the shore of the beach on Tuesday.

Videos of lifeguards and bathers trying to get the beached mammals back into the water were posted on social media.

Lifeguard 11 and scuba diver Kester Kent told Newsday, around 11.30 am, he and three of his colleagues were at their station when they saw nine dolphins near the shore on the east side of the beach.

“It was the first time I have seen that in my life, so I don’t know what would have been the cause for the dolphins to come ashore,” he said.

“Normally, we would see them just out of the bathing area, passing upward and downward. But today (Tuesday) was the first time we have seen them come to a shore like this.”

On seeing the dolphins, Kent said, bathers and others on the shore became excited. Some took videos and photos of the spectacle on their cellphones.

“Everyone was happy because it was like a dream come true for most of them. People would have seen dolphins on television ,but it was right here in Store Bay.”

But Kent, who has been a lifeguard for eight years, said excitement quickly turned to concern.

“When they came ashore, we all tried to get them back out to sea and every time we did that, we failed at first because they kept coming back to shore.

“We did that for between 30 and 40 minutes, lifeguards, patrons, before we were able to take the dolphins to safety successfully. People were clapping.”

Kent said the dolphins were fairly large.

“There was a really big one, approximately 16 feet in length. I think that was the leader of the dolphins. The rest of them were between nine and ten feet.

“As a lifeguard/scuba diver, I have learnt that dolphins move together. So if the leader is not close to the rest of the dolphins, everyone will be searching for themselves. So I believe that was the biggest one.”

Kent said the dolphins were possibly affected by some disturbance at sea and were reluctant to return.

“Something must have affected them. There must be a reason why these dolphins would have come ashore and don’t want to go back out to sea. But we did our best by helping them back out to sea.”

Contacted for comment, president of the All Tobago Fisherfolk Association Curtis Douglas said there were several reasons why the dolphins might have washed ashore.

“They may have been affected by oil companies doing surveys or a migrating of killer whales. Not even hunting them scares them like that,” he said.

“But normally that is not the natural habitat or behaviour of those mammals.”

Douglas recalled the last time dolphins washed ashore was in 2014, when an exploration survey was being done in the waters off Tobago.