Dolphin freed after it was caught by fishing line at Bedok Jetty

Today Online 10 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE — A wild dolphin which was entrapped by a fishing net at Bedok Jetty over the weekend was finally freed with the help of members from the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres).

Posting a video of its rescue efforts on Facebook on Tuesday (April 10) evening, Acres said the rescue operation took around an hour.

“The wild dolphin seemed to have a foreign object entangled on the tail fin, which was weighing down the animal, preventing him or her from swimming and breathing properly,” said Acres.

“The Acres Wildlife Rescue Team jumped into action and we are delighted to share with everyone that the dolphin has been freed”.

The team managed to remove the object from the dolphin, and found it to be fish net weighing a total of eight kilograms. The net had fishing weights attached to it as well.

“(We wish) the dolphin all the best in the wild (and) hope (that) he or she doesn’t get caught in a net again,” Acres added.

On Saturday, a video was widely circulated on social media of a dolphin caught by a fishing line of an angler at Bedok Jetty.

Eyewitnesses reported that the mammal was seen struggling and bleeding at its tail while the angler was trying to reel it in. A member of the public contacted the authorities and the fisherman cut his line shortly after, and the dolphin drifted away.

The dolphin was sighted again the next day at the west of the jetty along East Coast Park, before Acres came to its rescue.

Dolphins are not a rare sight in Singapore waters. In 2016, a dolphin carcass washed ashore at East Coast Park.

The dead dolphin was identified as an Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin — or pink dolphin — the most commonly sighted dolphin species in Singapore waters.

In sightings reported to the National University of Singapore’s Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI), at least 169 dolphins were spotted between 2008 and 2011 in the waters between Singapore and Batam, near St John’s Island and Pulau Semakau, and as close to shores as the Marina Barrage.

In 2012, at least another 50 of the mammals were sighted — the most recent year that proper records were kept before TMSI’s work was cut short when the conservation arm of Wildlife Reserves Singapore stopped funding a three-year study.


Injured dolphin caught in fishing line at Bedok Jetty has been freed: ACRES
Channel NewsAsia 10 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE: A dolphin seen struggling after becoming entangled in a fishing line at Bedok Jetty over the weekend has been freed, the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES) said on Tuesday (Apr 10).

On Saturday, visitors to Bedok Jetty spotted a dolphin that had become entangled in an angler’s fishing line. Video footage of the incident showed that the wild dolphin appeared to have a “foreign object” entangled on its tail fin.

“The wild dolphin seemed to have a foreign object entangled on the tail fin, which was weighing down the animal, preventing him or her from swimming and breathing properly,” ACRES said.

In a Facebook post, ACRES said its Wildlife Rescue Team sighted the same dolphin on Sunday, west of Bedok Jetty along East Coast Park.

Following a one-hour rescue operation, ACRES said the team removed 8kg of fish net and line material. The netting had fishing weights attached to it, ACRES added.

In a video uploaded by ACRES, rescue team members can be seen approaching the dolphin on rubber dinghy. Two men then jump into the water and carefully remove the netting from the dolphin’s tail before guiding it back to open water.

In their post, ACRES thanked the National Parks Board (NParks), the National Sailing Club (NSC) as well as members of the public for bringing the incident to their attention and “helping to save the dolphin’s life”.

Source: CNA/zl(aj)


Acres finds and frees dolphin caught in fish net at Bedok Jetty
Lydia Lam Straits Times 10 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE - A dolphin that was spotted entangled in a fishing line at Bedok Jetty last Saturday (April 7) has been freed in a rescue operation by the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (Acres) that lasted more than an hour.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Acres shared a video of two people in the water helping the dolphin.

Acres' Wildlife Rescue Team had sighted the dolphin on Sunday, west of Bedok Jetty, along East Coast Park.

"After a one-hour rescue operation, we managed to remove all the netting which had fishing weights attached to it as well," said Acres in its Facebook post. "We removed a total of 8kg of fish net and line material."

Acres deputy chief executive Kalai Vanan told The Straits Times on Tuesday that he and an Acres volunteer went out to sea with a dinghy on Sunday afternoon after they received reports of dolphin sightings on Sunday.

"A wild dolphin is quite shy so it moved away," he said. "It was about 30m from the shore when we went down at about 12.15pm."

Mr Kalai said he realised that the entanglement "was quite bad" after having a closer look.

The incident on April 7, 2018, drew a crowd of about 70 people.

"We assessed the situation and realised we had to intervene," he said. "Because if we didn't intervene and it went out of sight shortly after, then we might not see it again and based on that scenario on Sunday it already looked very weak. So we felt the priority should be to remove the entanglement so it wouldn't be in such distress."

He stayed on the dinghy to guide his partner, who jumped into the water as the dolphin dived in and out.

"We managed to get a hold of it and guide it to shallower waters for a clearer picture," he said. "The entire entanglement was a big clump of fishing net, fishing lines, fishing weights, fishing hooks."

He said the dolphin had lacerations on its body, and they took a knife to cut the mass of nets away.

It was freed at about 2pm. Mr Kalai, along with his rescue partner, a volunteer with Acres for five to six years now, boarded a boat from the National Sailing Club to check on the dolphin.

"On Saturday and Sunday I'm pretty sure it was always in the shallow waters. But after we freed it, it dived in and reappeared much further down, about 50m out," he said.

Acres thanked the National Parks Board and the National Sailing Club, as well as those who alerted them to sightings of the dolphin.

The dolphin had been spotted at around 7.30am on Saturday, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

While it still appeared weak, it seemed to be moving quicker and "a bit more upright" after a while, Mr Kalai said. "It eventually went out of sight," he said.