On a Friday morning last month, Miami-Dade Marine Patrol Officer Nelson Silva was finishing up paperwork in his office when the Pelican Harbor Marina manager appeared at his door to report something suspicious floating offshore.
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The manager could see it moving, but couldn鈥檛 make out what it was.
鈥淯nfortunately, this past year has been really bad for the manatees. So I thought, oh, it鈥檚 another manatee,鈥� said Silva.
Silva has spent 17 of his 27 years with the Miami-Dade Police Department in marine patrol and has come across plenty of dead wildlife in urban Biscayne Bay: birds tangled in fishing line, manatees mauled by boats and fish felled by pollution.
The last year has been especially brutal to manatees. More than 1,100 have died, including more than 360 in the Indian River Lagoon where many likely starved after widespread seagrass loss.
Marine debris, Silva said, is . Derelict 鈥榞host鈥� traps, fishing line, anchor rope and a host of other objects tormenting marine life litter the bay. Miami-Dade plans on spending $500,000 over the coming year to
Much of the debris between Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, according to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection over three years, comes from fishing.
鈥淓specially a lot of fishing line,鈥� Silva said. 鈥淎t high tide is when we really see a lot.鈥�
But as Silva motored about a half-mile offshore, even he was surprised by what he encountered: a young dolphin, ensnared in an illegal gill net, from its tail to its bottle nose.
鈥淚 got you, buddy鈥濔煇�
— Miami-Dade Police (@MiamiDadePD)
Officer Nelson Silva, of our Marine Patrol Unit, received a call of a dolphin in distress in the Shorecrest area. Officer Silva located a juvenile聽dolphin聽that was trapped in a fishing net. Watch the video to see how Officer Silva helped free the dolphin.
As he pulled up, Silva said he worried he鈥檇 arrived too late 鈥渂ecause he's just sitting still there.鈥�
Then the young dolphin, between 3 and 4 feet long, gave a quick snort from its blowhole. A video from his body camera later posted by MDPD shows Silva swing into action: he grabs a gaff to hook the net, hauls the dolphin up to the boat and whips out his pocket knife to begin cutting.
Silva later said he wanted to work quickly because he could see the monofilament already cutting into the dolphin鈥檚 head.
鈥淪o that鈥檚 where I started to cut the net,鈥� he said.
Silva makes a few cuts before the panicky dolphin jerks free, cutting Silva鈥檚 hand on the line. Silva follows it in his patrol boat, hooks the net a second time, talking to the dolphin the entire time. The dolphin jerks away again.
鈥淚 had to make sure that he was calm because if he got away,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 going to be able to help him.鈥�
Silva grabs the net again and begins cutting. Within seconds, the dolphin is free.
鈥淗e took off,鈥� Silva said. 鈥淵ou can actually see the trail he left in the water in the video.鈥�
In all his years on the water, Silva said the dolphin rescue will rank among his proudest moments.
鈥淚've saved lots of lives out there. I鈥檝e pulled people off burning boats and [out of] stranded canoes,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut this was a first. This one felt really, really, really good.鈥�
