Rare dolphin sightings in central LI Sound

More than two years after as many as 200 bottlenose dolphins spent several days swimming around central Long Island Sound and adjacent harbors, a pod of similar size has been spotted in the same area.

Marine researchers say the rare occurrence signals improved water quality in the Sound.

The latest visitors were seen off Bayville on Wednesday, in Hempstead Harbor on Thursday and in Smithtown Bay on Friday.

The pod that showed up in June 2009 was the first group of bottlenoses that large seen by fishermen and scientists in at least 30 years.

Mitch Kramer, owner of North Shore Towing & Diving of Oyster Bay, said Wednesday that he saw at least 50 dolphins west of Oak Neck Point in Bayville. He said he got a call Friday that the pod was off Smithtown Bay.

Noah Barker, a professional photographer from Sea Cliff, had a close encounter Thursday evening on Hempstead Harbor off Glen Cove. He said as soon as his boat left the mooring area off Glen Cove Creek, "out of the corner of my eye I saw something a couple of hundred yards away and we stopped and turned the boat and all of a sudden we were right in the middle of a pod of 100-plus dolphins. It was unbelievable."

He said the dolphins swam in large circles for almost two hours until dark.

When Kramer called the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, the staff was electrified.

Kim Durham, the group's stranding director, said there were scattered sightings of a small pod in Long Island Sound and in adjacent bays in the Huntington area as well as near Plum Island last summer.

The researchers are hoping to catch up with this pod to document it with photographs and acoustic recordings as they did two years ago. They would particularly like to photograph the dorsal fins to determine whether these are the same dolphins that were in the area two years ago.

"The dolphins, especially if they have young, would not be here if there was not a food source," she said. Two years ago, scientists determined the dolphins had come to feed on herring. "It's an encouraging sign for Long Island Sound."

The animals spotted are coastal bottlenose dolphins, Durham said. The species of dolphins typically seen in New York waters and farther north are offshore bottlenose, which tend to be bigger and darker than the coastal bottlenose that are normally found from Florida to New Jersey. So she said it might represent an expansion of the coastal bottlenose range, "which if you're a biologist is exciting."

Sightings are exciting for boaters too, but Durham pointed out that dolphins "are federally protected."

That means it's illegal to cut them off with boats, approach closely, swim among them or try to feed them. The best approach is to shut off the engine and wait, she said.