Residents of coastal communities were urged to monitor and report stranding incidents that involve marine mammals to the proper authorities after an adult male spinner dolphin died after being rescued in Barangay Fatima, Tabaco City early this week.
In an interview on Thursday, Daryl John Buenconsejo, Albay Provincial Fisheries Project and Program Coordinator, said locals may report discovery of distressed mammals to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Bicol (BFAR-5), the Albay Provincial Agricultural Office (APAO)-Fisheries Division, the Albay Veterinary Office (AVO), or the nearest municipal agriculture office for proper handling and rescue operations.
“In case man po meron ulit mangyaring ganitong cases [stranding of marine mammal]. Ipagbigay alam po sa office ng BFAR or pwede din po sa PGA-APAO or PGA-AVO or sa pinakamalapit na municipal agriculture office na nasasakupang munisipyo (In case a similar case happens again [stranding of marine mammal]. Please inform the office of BFAR or PGA-APAO or PGA-AVO or the nearest municipal agriculture office),” Buenconsejo said.
He said the marine mammal possibly died because of stress based on the results of the necropsy conducted by the city veterinarian of Tabaco.
“The dolphin was also cleared from any other injuries and from being poisoned,” he noted. “Possible cause nung ikinamatay ng dolphin is stress kasi hindi na siya kumakain, wala nang laman yung kanyang stomach and mga intestine. Ibig sabihin mga ilang araw na to hindi kumakain. So possible cause kung bakit hindi siya kumakain is stress (The possible cause of the dolphin’s death is stress because it no longer ingested food, the stomach, and intestines were already empty. Meaning to say it has not eaten for several days. So the possible reason it had not eaten is stress).”
The BFAR-5 will conduct further examination of the sample tissues of the dolphin, Buenconsejo said.
He said in most incidents, the rescued mammal is either alive and eventually released, or recovered dead along the shoreline. This is the first time that the mammal died after being rescued alive by their team.
“Our team Marine Mammal Stranding Network-Albay conducts an Information Education Campaign (IEC) to the coastal communities in the province to give them the basic and right information about marine mammals,” he added. (PNA)
