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Article Archive > Experts: No plans to move dolphins from rivers Experts: No plans to move dolphins from rivers WEST LONG BRANCH - Government experts who have monitored a pod of dolphins since they took up residence in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers said they have no plans to move the marine mammals despite predictions of subfreezing temperatures by week's end. But some people, attending a seminar on bottlenose dolphins held at Monmouth University Tuesday night, said that amounts to a death sentence for the five remaining dolphins. "We talked with our experts, and they didn't feel we should do anything," said David Gouveia, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine mammal coordinator. "They said they're not stranding, they're not ill, as long as there is enough for them to eat, we're prohibited from interfering." Flanked by four experts, Gouveia echoed their belief that moving or herding the five remaining dolphins could be dangerous for both humans and the marine animals, although it was considered earlier and ruled out. "It's in their best interest to leave them alone," he said. "We understand the decision not to relocate them is controversial." But that decision was criticized by some of the 70 people who attended the seminar including Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Amato said 10 dolphins of three different species, including bottlenose, have died in the area of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers. He also said the NOAA plan doesn't consider the consequences of the river freezing. "Once that river freezes over, those dolphins are dead," he said. "You need to get them out now." Concern for the remaining dolphins from the original pod of 16 and about 10 dead dolphins was voiced by Scott Longfield of Fair Haven, a volunteer for the Marine Animal Stranding Center and photographer. He brought photos of the 10 dead dolphins. "Ten dolphins seems like an alarming amount, we haven't had 10 dead dolphins in 10 years," Longfield said. NOAA officials are only counting bottlenose dolphins and said that some of the others may have swum into the area to die. A NOAA official from Massachusetts said she's had incidents of nine dolphins stranding and dying over two days. Gouveia and other experts said the dolphins will move when motivated by temperature or lack of food. Right now plentiful amounts of fish are keeping them here, he said. Ed Okie of Toms River told the panel it could be too late by then. "They don't know it will be 8 (degrees) and the ice will be 3 inches thick," Okie said. Gouveia said that an effort to herd a pod of dolphins out of the Navesink in 1993 went awry when the dolphins scattered and swam under ice. Their bodies were recovered in April and were too decomposed to determine how they died, but experts surmised they drowned under the ice, he said. "We tried to move them and did more harm than good," he said. Dolphins have successfully "overwintered" in two bays in Lynnhaven, southern Virginia, where the water temperature is similar to New Jersey, said Sue Barco, marine mammal stranding coordinator for the Virginia Marine Science Museum. "It's not unlike the Shrewsbury (River)," she said. NOAA officials said they've also done acoustic monitoring at the site of the Highlands Bridge construction project and 1.3 miles away to determine if the sounds are affecting the dolphins swimming under the span. As late as Sunday, two of three dolphins seen in the area swam under the bridge to the north side of the bay, but they returned to the south side, Gouveia said. State Department of Transportation officials said they'd suspend work if the dolphins were heading under the bridge and out to sea, he said. Frank Cottone of Keansburg said neighbors around the bridge project he spoke to complained of vibrations from pile driving for the Highlands bridge project and questioned if that is affecting the dolphins. Some residents said they weren't reassured by NOAA's answers. "I'm not satisfied. This is a lot of talk. They are wasting precious time," said Marilene Antrim of Hazlet. "They need to get out to sea where they belong and the water is warmer."
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