LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP — Two pods of dolphins swam by a group of lifeguards during a morning competition off the beach here Wednesday.
It was the serene summer scene any lifeguard appreciates, but New Jersey guards have had many grimmer encounters with dolphins in recent weeks.
Since a dead dolphin was found in the Elberon section of Long Branch on July 9, 21 dead dolphins have washed onto beaches from Monmouth County to Cape May County, said Bob Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, which has responded to each.
What?s causing the deaths isn?t yet clear. The number of dolphins brought in for testing ? an average of two per day ? has delayed the center from getting closer to an answer, Schoelkopf said.
?This is unusual,? he said. ?It?s a high number.?
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s National Marine Fisheries Service said last week that a typical year could see more than 1,000 strandings of dolphins and other marine animals such as seals and whales from Maine to Virginia.
This time of year often leads to dolphin strandings because they are migrating and between more boats in the water and a higher population, human interaction or just a sudden sickness could bring a dolphin to shore, said Maggie Mooney-Seus, NOAA?s Northeast Fisheries Science Center?s communications specialist.
Fisheries have started collecting information, which includes asking its other regional stranding network members to report any strandings they have so NOAA can track any trends, Mooney-Seus said.
Schoelkopf said all but one of the beached animals have been bottlenose dolphins. A common dolphin was brought in Tuesday after washing onto the beach in Harvey Cedars. They range from 125 to 500 pounds, he said.
The stranding center picks up the animals, briefly studies them at their headquarters in Brigantine, and then takes them to the New Bolton Center in Chester County, Pa. There, they undergo a necropsy ? an autopsy for animals.
?We keep taking them (animals) every day. The lab is pushing as hard as they can,? he said.
While the locations of the dead dolphins has varied, Schoelkopf said his staff has found nine of the dolphins along the 18-mile stretch of Long Beach Island. Long Beach Township has had to report three dead dolphins, Beach Patrol Supervisor Don Myers said.
The three dolphins that washed on his beaches July 19, 24 and 30 came later in the day when few people were on the beach, Myers said. His staff follows protocol by keeping people away and notifying the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, he said.
His staff examined one of the dolphins, which had various cuts, scrapes and punctures. But he said he isn?t certain what has been impacting the dolphins.
?I tell my staff they?re mammals like we are. They have respiratory infections or die of natural causes like anything,? Myers said.
The dolphins haven?t forced beach closures and the health department cleared the beach of health issues, Myers said. His beach hasn?t had problems with sharks, either, he said.
Schoelkopf said some of the dolphins that they found had been badly decomposed because of sharks eating the carcasses.
He is urging anyone who sees a dolphin to keep themselves, their pets and children away from it and to report it immediately to the center or local authorities, such as police or lifeguards.
