A pod of dolphins was spotted close to the shoreline of Pengambengan Village in Negara, Jembrana in the past week, raising the eyebrows of officials who said that the aquatic mammals are more commonly seen out in the open sea.
Pengambengan Maritime and Fisheries Monitoring Task Force coordinator Andri Purna Jatmiko said that three dolphins were sighted while officials were patrolling the waters last Friday.
According to Andri, dolphins are usually spotted way out in the ocean off Pengambengan. That day, however, the three dolphins were spotted just around 2 miles from the shoreline – something he claimed was a novel occurrence.
Locals, among whom are fishermen, were awed by the proximity to the dolphins, as they would not characteristically swim in shallow waters.
“Since I began my duty here in January and patrolling a few times, only in the past week I saw dolphins near the beach. The dolphins perhaps were looking for or chasing fish because they were aplenty [on the spots they were seen], but we cannot make sure yet as to why they were so close to the shoreline,” Andri said.
Dolphins are protected under Indonesian law. Andri said that so far there were no reports of locals poaching the majestic creatures.
