Distressed dolphin tangled in fishing line rescued in the Bay

A normal day at work quickly changed for Stuart Mason, who works on the Gibraltar Pilots boats, when he jumped into the water in the Bay to aid a dolphin that was entangled in braiding line from its mouth to tail.

"I heard through the VHF radio one of my friends, who works on another service boat, call the Port on channel 12 and report a dolphin that was in distress," he told the Chronicle.

"I asked my boss, the pilot, if on the way out to a ship we could stop and have a look at the situation."

The dolphin was in the middle of the Bay when Mr Mason and his colleague Wayne Senior Jnr clearly saw it had some problem with entanglement of some sort.

Gaining permission Mr Mason didn't hesitate to dive in as "all my focus was to save it the best I could."

"The dolphin knew I was there to help him as soon as I dived in," he said.

"And as I was doing what I had to do he let me do it. Not once did the dolphin feel panic or become agitated. He knew he just needed my help."

"It was an amazing feeling for me also."

"Sad to see these situations but at the same time super rewarding for me to have been there to help him, give him another chance to live," he added.

The rescue took six to seven minutes.

While Mr Mason stated he did feel tired afterwards, he stressed that the feeling he got was "greater than everything else" and he would have stayed there as long as he had to.

Mr Mason has been in and around sea his whole life and in the 17 years he has been working at sea he said he has had the privilege to save a few other animals as well. Such as, vultures, and other migrating birds.

"As well as immigrants floating at sea on a number of occasions," he said.

"It's part of my job to help and save anyone who needs my assistance out at sea."

"For me it's blessings that come my way."