MikeLigalig.com

by Bohol Standard

Lifeless marine mammals drifting in Bohol’s shorelines have become a storied one as another dolphin and a turtle were found dead in separate occasions in the municipalities of Garcia-Hernandez and Duero, respectively.

Both towns are 22 kms. apart along the eastern coast of this tourism island province.

A beak dolphin was beached and found floating dead that alarmed the coastal residents of Barangay Ulbujan, Garcia-Hernandez, said a source. The residents and rescuers have no other options but to bury immediately the dolphin after documentation. The said dolphin is about 14 feet long with multiple wounds and bloodied all over its body and a big wound believed to be hit by a harpoon, said the source.

Just last week, a notice e-mailed to this writer “calling everyone’s attention and help especially those who are in Panglao, Balicasag Island, and nearby areas to be alert reported a dolphin seen floating off the waters of Panglao one morning after getting ran over by a boat (fishing boat as believed by those who saw the incident).”

Kristina A. Pahang, Information, Education, and Communication Campaign Coordinator of the Large Marine Vertebrates (LAMAVE) Project-Philippines and member of the Bohol Rescue Unit for Marine Mammals (BRUMM) sent the notice to inform the concerned people.

She said that early on last week of April 2012 “at around 7:20am, a dolphin got ran over by a boat (believed to be a fishing boat) off the waters of Panglao (the area where usual dolphin watching is done). This incident was seen from a distance by guests on a boat going to Balicasag for a dive. The dive boat went near the dolphin (which was observed to be floating most of the time) to check on it while the boat which ran over on the dolphin was already moving fast away from the area. One fisherman on a banca who went close to check on the dolphin, too, confirmed that it was ran over by another banca. The species was not confirmed but according to the guest we have contacted, its length is equivalent to 5’2”, has a distinct melon, with snout but not as long as of spinner dolphins, and the same type/kind that will bow ride,” she said in her e-mail.

“The dolphin was seen being accompanied by a bigger dolphin of the same species. The guest did not see any cut on the dolphin and could still blow, but he noticed it was floating bit on its side, would sometimes sink then up again. The dive boat couldn’t stay any longer in the area and not sure anymore if the dolphin is still there,” she added based on her information she got.

Another e-mail received by this writer said “within a mere 48 hours of each other, two separate turtles of different species' became stranded in Duero and Jagna, respectively,” said Dominic Clarke, a Physalus member.

Clarke said that a leatherback turtle species washed ashore in Duero and “was sadly dead.” It is being kept by Physalus, a research group, for necropsy “to shed light on the possible cause of death.”

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tinood ng dolphin naay mga pics sa Garcia-Hernandez

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