Cape Cod rescuers try to save 16 white sided dolphins injured by a series of 8 shallow earthquakes along the Reykjanes Ridge about 100 miles south of Iceland.
by Captain David Williams
Deafwhale Society, Inc.
March 22, 2010
The diet of white sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acututs) consists primarily of various small fish, such as mackerel and herring, and squid. They stay close to the surface and, being extremely fast swimmers, they are constantly on the move. It can often be seen them leaping straight out of the water, landing on their sides. (link to more info and video)
White-sided dolphins are quite common in Icelandic waters. Mostly traveling in large groups, the most frequent sightings are off the South, South-West, West and North-West coasts. The estimated population size in Icelandic waters is around 35,000 - 38,000 animals.
Early in the morning on 12 February 2010, a series of eight earthquakes (two of these events were extremely shallow) occurred along the seismically-active Reykjanes Ridge about 100 kilometers south of Iceland, in a known habitat for this species. None of these quakes were greater than magnitude 4.1, but still considered dangerous because the depth of the water near the epicenter was less than 500 meters and the depth of focus of 3 events was under 10 km (6.8, 0.3, 1.1 kilometers). Extremely shallow focused of this nature are far more dangerous than deeper events because the energy has less time to spread out before it encounters the rock/water interface. The instruments measuring these events were less than 200 km distance from the epicenter so the depth of focus is far more reliable than quakes measured at great distance.
A map of these events can be found at http://www.emsc-csem.org/index.php?page=current&sub=detail&id=155254#
2010-02-18 03:41:07.0 63.58N 23.45W depth 15.0 km Mag ML 3.8 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 04:45:39.1 63.63N 23.48W depth 13.0 km Mag ML 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 04:48:42.0 63.66N 23.44W depth 10.0 km Mag ML 4.1 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 04:50:15.3 63.64N 23.38W depth 6.8 km Mag ML 3.6 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 05:22:43.7 63.53N 23.80W depth 0.3 km Mag ML 3.3 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 05:22:46.6 63.58N 23.54W depth 11.8 km Mag ML 3.9 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 05:34:39.8 63.72N 23.09W depth 10.7 km Mag ML 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2010-02-18 05:47:20.2 63.62N 23.50W depth 1.1 km Mag ML 3.4 ICELAND REGION
The barotraumatically injured pod surfaced in the early morning on Feb 18. Their pertygoid sinuses, which play a major role in the function of echonavigation were traumatized and the dolphins could not determine direction. They group together for protection against sharks swam off in a random direction. Within less than minute, their streamlined bodies were pointing downstream in the path of least resistance. The current directed them west toward Greenland where they encounter the Greenland current that flows south around the tip of Greenland into the Labrador Sea. Once across the Labrador Sea, the surface currents turn southeast until the pod reached Saint John's Newfoundland area where the surface currents swing easterly and on toward Cape Cod.
The distanced traveled from Iceland to Cape Cod is ~5,000 kilometers The current flows from Iceland to Cape Cod with an average speed of ~2 knots. Data from one satellite-monitored white sided dolphin indicated an ability to travel long distances at a speed of at least 14 km/hr (Mate 1994). At this rate of speed, the white sided dolphins would have traveled 336 km/day. Within the 23 day between the earthquakes and the beaching, the dolphins might have swam up to 7,000 kilometers, including allowances for a bit of zigzagging.
Thursday March 11, 2010
They arrived at Cape Cod dehydrated, undernourished, and likely infected with parasites and bacteria. Eight of the animals died and eight others were transported to the tip of Cape Cod (near Provincetown) and released where the current flows rapidly out into the open sea.
If released back into the sea at the point where they stranded, they would have simply turn and re-stranded themselves on the same beach. To prevent re-stranding, the rescue team
Tony Lacasse of the New England Aquarium explains why the dolphins stranded. He says it's not unusual for dolphins to strand themselves during this time of the year. Cape Cod is among the top three places in the world where marine life becomes stranded. Fifty percents of the strandings occur in Wellfleet, because of how its shoreline is shaped. Lacasse says it happens every year between January and March because food is so scarce during the winter, it forces dolphins to find it wherever they can. As a result, dolphins often chase food near the shore and into back waters and up onto the mud flats. When the tide goes out quickly and the dolphins are too close to the shore, they can get stuck so says Tony if they dilly dally and don't rush to get off the mud flats. Tony says dolphins act stupid sometimes just like humans do. If humans can make mistakes, so can dolphins.
A food shortage only during the months of January through March that vanishes in April is doubtful. There were no food shortages several hundred years ago but the white sided dolphins still stranded on Cape Cod beaches and only in the winter months. But there were no rescuers--the local just ate the meat and thanks God for their luck.
Why do stranding occur in a season pattern? For one reason, earthquakes along the Reykjanes Ridge south of Iceland are seasonal. The wave heights are greater in the winter which in turn sends low frequency pressure waves into the bottom and nudges stressed seismic faults causing the sudden release of pent up stress (earthquake). Oceanic currents also play a major role, favoring a stranding on Cape Cod during the winter, but the flow changes as spring approaches. By August, powerful currents are moving north along the mouth of the Gulf of Maine so that any seaquake-injured pods would be directed out to sea when they near St. John's Newfoundland. Point is that during to off season from stranding, injured whales are not likely to enter the Gulf of Maine. See chart below:
In addition, the pods are feeding on the ridge axis in the winter months during the squid breeding season. The squid breed and lay their eggs along ridge axis, likely to take advantage of the warmer bottom waters in this area. When the squid are over the ridge axis, so are the dolphins. But during the summer months, the squid move into coastal waters and away from the seismically-active ridge axis. The pods of dolphin follow, moving out of the danger zone and out of harms way.
The dolphins that stranded on Cape Cod during on 11 March did not come from the local population--they come from ~5,000 kilometers away and 100 kilometers south of Iceland, along the Reykjanes Ridge. They did not make a mistake feeding too close to shore. They stranded because they suffered a barotraumatic injury on 18 February 2010 when a series of eight shallow focused earthquakes ruptured through the seabed generating potent and excessive changes in ambient pressure and causing a rupture in the pertygoid sinuses surrounding the ear bones of the dolphins (see deafwhale.com).
The rescue team issued a press release that the Deafwhale Society finds hard to believe. At the bottom of the press release, the IFAW are asking for public support. We suggest this is just a ploy to raise donations. We challenge the International Fund for Animal Welfare to prove what they say below:
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YARMOUTH PORT, Mass., March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rescuers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW ? www.ifaw.org) Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team have confirmed that at least four of the nine Atlantic white-sided dolphins released last week are surviving at sea.
The dolphins were sighted and photographed yesterday during a joint survey between IFAW and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. The tagged dolphins, located using satellite and VHF telemetry, were found in a group of approximately 200 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on the southern edge of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
The animals were all swimming strongly and were exhibiting longer dives, indicating a feeding behavior.
In the last 10 years, IFAW has handled over 900 live animals. Thanks to improved medical examinations and supportive care, survivor rates of mass stranded dolphins and whales have increased from 14% in 2004 to more than 50% in 2009.
IFAW Appeal for funds to replace satellite tags
The IFAW Marine Mammal is asking for public donations to purchase replacement satellite tags and continue their research. Each tag costs $2,000 and at least two are needed. They are also hoping to raise $14,000 to purchase specialized equipment to save more animals from deep mud.
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If you are of the mind to donate to this group, their website features hundreds of way you can give them money.
The truth is, more likely than not, the white sided dolphins are now resting peacefully in the bellies of oceanic sharks. Naturally IFAW, and other groups of the same cut, want the public to believe that they save the dolphins just so they can get more donations. Saving seaquake-injured whales and dolphins has grown into an extremely profitable business based on a complete fantasy. The Deafwhale Society is not against fund raising but we detest fraud no matter where we see it. We prefer the old-fashion way of dealing stranded adult dolphins--we think the animals should be slaughter and turned into pet food or fed to starving kids. On the other hand, the suckling young of the pod do not make the feeding dive that injured the adults so we believe they can be rehabilitated and made available for educational exhibits. All the efforts to save stranded whales should go toward the young.
There may be futuristic ways to save an entire pod. The method we envision would involve interceding before the stranding occurred. We might be able to monitoring the area downstream from a dangerous earthquake by using powerful satellites that could spot an earthquake-injured pod swimming with the flow weeks before they strand. These pods could be driven by small boats into a holding inlets where man could feed and protect them until they recover. The method of driving these seaquake-injured pod would be identical to the methods used in the drive fisheries of the Faeroe Islands and Japan.
Capt. Dave Williams
Deafwhale Society, Inc.