Stricken Dolphin Asks For Human Help From Scuba Divers

A dolphin with a fish hook stuck in its pectoral fin and fishing line impeding its movement asked Laros, a scuba instructor, for help during a night dive off Kona, Hawaii. The link contains the YouTube video of the amazing rescue.

The scuba diver was able to cut the lines, but the hook remained in the fin. However, the dolphin appeared able to move fully when he/she swam away five minutes later.

When I scuba-dived weekly off the huge reef in the Red Sea near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I would often see white-tip reef sharks, a relatively harmless shark which never attacked human divers near Jeddah. However, one Sunday in the waters about five miles offshore, me and my experienced partners [I had a PADI instructor's patch] were startled by a huge rush in the water and the sight of the abundant sea life zipping away for cover in the large reef columns nearby. I didn't see it, but my partners said a huge Great White shark had swum rapidly through the water nearby and caused the commotion.

Just a couple minutes later, a pair of dolphins swam near me and took up station about fifty feet away, the first time I'd ever seen such behavior. I then understood that the dolphins were guarding me from the Great White, and I recalled many stories from the other divers in Jeddah who mentioned dolphins harassing sharks that seemed to threaten humans.

That's my fish story for today. Strange, but true.