The Dive Team was about to conduct a training dive in the Manasquan inlet when they heard a call to the Coast Guard station from a private vessel reporting a dead Bottlenose Dolphin outside of the inlet.
The dive team responded to the reported location with the use of a TowBoat US unit that was donated by the local operator along with a boat captain. The dolphin was located 1/2 mile North of Manasquan Inlet and 1/2 mile offshore. Divers Tom Conroy and Tom Trafer entered the water and strapped the body onto a backboard. Chief Diver Nesley, Flo Melo, and TowBoat US Captain Rick then pulled the 350lb dolphin onto the boat.
The Dolphin was then taken to the Manasquan Coast Guard station where Coast Guard personnel assisted in loading the dolphin for transportation to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J.
MMSC personnel staff believed that the numerous scratches along the body could have been bite marks from other dolphins, but they were mostly superficial and unlikely the cause of death. The stranding center is still very busy but the dive team had the opportunity to visit the two Seals that were recoverd by the Dive Team back on Easter weekend...
Asbury Park Press article here...
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