httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKNHgfdyaW4 Video from KEYT – KCOY – KKFX. Click to view the KEYT Channel 3 News Story.
On Saturday afternoon, June 13, 2015, Captain Dave got an important call from our friend Todd on the “Alan T,” who was relaying a message from another friend, Jeff, who works on Platform Charlie. (Platform C, or Charlie, is the farthest west oil rig in the Santa Barbara “rig line”). The call was directed to Dave because, in addition to his career as Captain of the Condor Express, he is also certified to help rescue certain cetaceans that become entangled. (In the past year he has also helped save two humpback whales). The crew on Platform C had been watching a long-beaked common dolphin near the platform that “did not swim away and stayed in the same place” for hours. After Dave received the necessary federal authorization to attempt a disentanglement, he mobilized with his similarly certified colleague Pete, and brought all the necessary tools out to Platform Charlie for a look-see.
On scene Dave and Pete quickly found this dolphin. It was trailing ¼-inch diameter polypropylene line that ran through its mouth, out the other side and around its right pectoral fin. Additionally, the rope was twisted around itself many times between mouth and fin, perhaps from being caught in the propeller of a boat. A short piece of this line trailed out of the right side of the mouth and along the surface. A much longer piece ran out of the left side of the mouth and headed towards the ocean floor 200-feet below. Every 15-feet or so along the line there was a strange cluster of PVC pipes, each about 18-inches long and 8-inches in diameter. We do not know what this gear was being used for.
Although the dolphin was still on the surface and breathing, it appeared to be exhausted. After Pete and Dave assessed the situation and determined how to best free the dolphin without putting their small boat or themselves in harm’s way, Dave tossed a grappling hook and caught hold of the longer of the two lines. The long line was brought to their boat and the two rescuers hauled it up from the depths. Several hundred feet of this poly line was retrieved when suddenly the line went tight. The end of the line was anchored to the sea floor. The boat was used to try and gently dislodge the anchor, but the rope was old, encrusted with fouling organisms, and snapped.
It was, however, still attached to the poor dolphin. So the men gently began pulling on the line to bring the dolphin nearer to the boat. When the dolphin was along side, Dave reached over and using a special knife designed by the federal government entanglement authorities, cut the line at a point between the mouth and the pectoral fin. The rest of the line came free and all of it was safely removed from the dolphin.
The tired and perhaps somewhat confused dolphin hung out on the surface for a few minutes, then swam off. Dave concluded by stating that it did not look like the dolphin suffered any permanent damage.
How about a big thanks to our federal government trained and approved response team and our own Captain Dave ! …one more happy dolphin to greet the Condor Express in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Bob Perry Condor Express
Comments