Dead dolphin pulled from ocean

MANASQUAN — A dead 350-pound bottlenose dolphin was recovered Sunday morning from the ocean about a half-mile off Manasquan beach by members of the Point Pleasant First Aid Dive Team, said chief diver Chet Nesley.

A private boater reported the animal's location to the Coast Guard about 9 a.m. Sunday. It was taken by members of the dive team to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

The animal originally was spotted by mariners aboard the private vessel Double Vision, which reported a bottlenose dolphin floating dead on the surface of the ocean.

The stranding center investigates the deaths of recovered marine mammals and cares for those found in need of care and rehabilitation.

This is the second time in a month that the dive team went out to do a training exercise and ended up working with the stranding center, Nesley said. During Easter weekend, live seals were recovered from beaches in Seaside Heights and Brick. Dive team members were able to visit the recovering seals while they were dropping off the dolphin, Nesley said.

"The dive team was just about to enter Manasquan Inlet for a training dive when we overheard the call," Nesley said in an e-mailed statement. "We contacted the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, who advised us to take the call and recover the body."

TowBoatU.S. donated a boat and a skipper to run the dive team out for the recovery. Divers Tom Conroy and Tom Trafer entered the water and strapped the carcass onto a backboard, and Nesley, dive team member Flo Melo and TowBoat captain Rick Fay pulled the animal onto the boat.

Stranding Center staff noted scratches along the carcass "that could have been bite marks from other dolphins, but they were mostly superficial and unlikely the direct cause of death," Nesley said.