The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has been rescuing stranded dolphins for 26 years, but 2024 has been the busiest year by far.
In the last two weeks, the marine mammal rescue team based in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, has responded to 26 stranded dolphins, including 14 stranded bottlenose dolphins in Brewster on Sept. 16. That event marked the largest recorded mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins in the Northeast.
Brian Sharp, the IFAW’s director of Marine Mammal Rescue, said three of the bottlenose dolphins died, but his team managed to re-float and save 11 others. A satellite tag attached to one has since shown that the pod has stuck around Cape Cod Bay.
“I don’t think I’ll take a sigh of relief until they get out and around Provincetown and out into out into the ocean and out of the bay,” Sharp said. “We’re hoping that they will be able to figure it out.“
Overall, Sharp’s team has responded to 175 live stranded dolphins since June, which is more than 2.5 times the annual average.
“We’re in completely uncharted territory,” Sharp said.
Cape Cod’s shallow waters, complex tidal movements, and sandbars often disorient dolphins, making it a global hotspot for strandings for decades.
But bottlenose dolphins, which are typically larger and more robust than other local dolphin species, are typically found farther from shore, making them less likely to need IFAW’s assistance.
“(But) where the fish go, the dolphins go,” Sharp said. “What we hear from fishermen is they’re seeing fish species that typically were found south of Long Island. Now they’re seeing them on Cape Cod.”
Ultimately over the last six years, the number of strandings has increased, and he has no idea when this dolphin stranding season will end, Sharp said.
“We still have three months left in the year. So I would love to say it’s over,” he said. “The staff need to rest. We need to repair equipment. But I think we’ve got more to go.”
With that in mind, Sharp urged locals and visitors to reach out to IFAW if they come across a stranded marine mammal.
“This year more than ever,” he said, “we ask people to call our hotline. They can reach one of our stranding biologists at (508)-743-9548.”
This story was originally published by Cape and Islands. It was shared as part of the New England News Collaborative.
