OLD BRIDGE — One dolphin is making quite a splash after finding a bit of shelter in the South River. On Thursday, staff members from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) were on the scene at the Old Matawan Road bridge, where a dolphin swimming in the South River had attracted hundreds of people throughout the day. Jay Pagel, senior field technician at the MMSC, said the “Where it was before the water was deep enough, we weren’t that concerned about it and there wasn’t any immediate threat,” Pagel said in an interview. “Unfortunately, it just moved into some shallower water, so once the tide goes out … it could get into some trouble.” According to Pagel, staff and volunteers with the MMSC were devising a plan to shepherd the dolphin to deeper waters by creating a lot of noise and disruption in the shallower area. However, he added, no definitive plan had been developed as of Thursday afternoon. “We have a couple of different things we’re going to try,” Pagel said. “If we can encourage it … into some deeper water, we will have a wider channel to work with.” Lorraine McCartney, a volunteer of 25 years with the MMSC, said the dolphin’s gender remains unknown, but they had ascertained that it is an older mammal. She added it likely ventured into the river because there is little or no competition for food, whereas a senior dolphin would have to compete with its youthful counterparts in the bay or ocean. “The animal is swimming freely and it is eating,” McCartney said. “It’s happy where it is. It’s got water, it’s got fish and it doesn’t need a lot more than water and fish.” According to McCartney, there is no imminent threat facing the dolphin, but staff are eager to find a way to get it out of the South River, where there are several shallow areas that might pose a threat to the dolphin’s well-being. Keith Gardner and David Muscle are South River residents who first spotted the dolphin behind he South River borough garage on Monday. The pair took to their kayaks and set off to follow the dolphin, phoning the MMSC as they did so. “On [Tuesday], me and Dave came out and saw that it wasn’t there so we were just going to go up to [the Duhernal Dam],” Gardner said in an interview. “But once we came across the Bordentown Avenue bridge it came up right next to him.” Muscle said he wasn’t completely caught off guard because they expected the dolphin was still in the river, but its sudden surfacing was a surprise. “Then we just followed it all day and it came over here yesterday or the day before yesterday,” Muscle said. “Then it came down here and hung out by the bridge the rest of the day.” Members of the MMSC thanked Gardner and Muscle for their help after they disembarked from their kayaks and rejoined the throngs of gawking passersby on Old Matawan Road. According to Pagel, the MMSC will continue its efforts to move the dolphin “If he stays in here too long we’ll have to worry about skin lesions, fungal infections and any debris in the river,” Pagel said. “That’s what we’ll have to keep an eye on and hopefully it won’t get any worse. “We’re hopeful. It’s kind of hit or miss and it’s a difficult situation … the animal doesn’t know what we’re trying to do and we don’t know exactly why the animal is here.”
