Chasing the dolphins
By Ben O. Tesiorna
MATI, Davao Oriental, Philippines – Dolphins have always fascinated me. Thus when an invitation came from Mati officials to do a documentation on the presence of dolphins in the picturesque Dahican Beach, I readily grabbed the opportunity and invited some media friends as well.
Mati municipal administrator Richard Villacorte said that though the presence of dolphins in their town had been known for long by local fishermen, no one had really made documentation and had tracked the path and feeding behaviour of these marine mammals, until now.
“Dati ay parang urban legend lang yung mga dolphins. Yung mga storya ng mga tao sa Cabuaya, sa Lawigan at dito sa Dahican ay never confirmed pa before. Until we decided to go out there in the open sea and see for ourselves,” Villacorte narrated.
The first documentation was conducted by the joint team of the Mati LGU, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Coast Guard and the Amihan Boys in Dahican sometime in July. The team saw hundreds of dolphins feeding in Mayo Bay where Dahican Beach is situated.
From his own point of view and from the series of consultations he made with the local fishermen, Villacorte deduced that the Pantropical spotted dolphins (scientific name Stenella attenuata) feed in Mayo Bay and lives in Barangay Cabuaya waters still located in Mati. Travelling several nautical miles from their home to their feeding ground.
Pantropical spotted dolphin is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The Pantropical Spotted Dolphin is very active and is prone to making large splashy leaps from the sea. It is a common breacher and will often clear the water for a second or more. Bow-riding and other play with boats is common.
The Pantropical Spotted Dolphin's propensity for associating with Yellowfin Tuna, particularly in the eastern Pacific has in recent history been a very real danger. In the 1960s and 1970s fishermen would capture thousands of dolphin and tuna at once using purse seine nets. The dolphins all died. Over a period of about 25 years 75% of this region's population, and over half the world's total was wiped out.
The second documentation was made last September 4. The call time was four in the morning as the dolphins reportedly feed early in the morning and will be on their way back home by ten in the morning.
Arriving at Dahican beach in such an early time was a bliss as I was able to watch the sunrise. Just as the day is breaking, we are off to the open waters of Mayo Bay.
The first hour of the trip was full of excitement. But when an hour passed and all we saw was one dolphin that was said to have astrayed from the pack, the excitement turned into boredom and backaches.
The waters are also going rough thus we decided to go back to Dahican. On our way back, the water became calm that made our trip faster. The whole trip lasted more than three hours, almost four hours. But despite the fact that we only saw one dolphin that day, it was all worth it.
Villacorte said the boat captain erroneously went to the other side of the bay which is opposite to the area they visited the first time. He said this just proves that more studies are needed to track and record the pattern of the dolphins from their home in Cabuaya to their feeding ground in Mayo Bay.
Pictures taken by the LGU staff from their first documentation showed several packs of dolphins in Mayo Bay. Villacorte said that there are at least 200 dolphins feeding in the said bay.
Few hours after we docked, we saw a sea cow just a few meters away from the shore. Jun Plaza of the Amihan Boys said that aside from the dolphins and the sea cows, sea turtles also inhabit the waters of Dahican and Mayo Bay.
It was learned that more than 500 turtle eggs had already hatched in Dahican and that the turtles started coming back to the shore just this year. Plaza said this proves that the waters of Mati are still very abundant in terms of aquatic resources.
For this, Villacorte said, the local government is planning to declare Mayo Bay as a protected area for the pawikans and the dolphins. Mati’s Pujada Bay was already declared as a protected area by then President Fidel V. Ramos. The mountain range of Hamiguitan located in the tri-boundaries of Mati, San Isidro and Governor Generoso was also declared as a protected area with a declared Philippine Eagle Sanctuary also located within the mountain range.
LGU Mati will still be conducting more monitoring of the dolphins in the future. At present, they entice visitors to also do a dolphin chase and provide livelihood to local fishermen whose boats will be used for the activity. BOT