Surfers attempt to return dolphins to the sea from Tsurigasaki beach in Chiba Prefecture’s Ichinomiya town. (Tomoya Aie)

Photo/Illutration Surfers return dolphins to the sea at Tsurigasaki beach in Chiba Prefecture’s Ichinomiya town on April 3. (Tomoya Aie)

ICHINOMIYA, Chiba Prefecture--Surfers initiated an emergency rescue operation after 32 dolphins were found washed ashore at a beach on the Boso Peninsula here early on April 3.

The surfers and others carried the dolphins back to the sea but several of them had already died, according to the Ichinomiya town government.

The dolphins, believed to be melon-headed whales, were each around 2 meters long.

They were discovered in an area stretching 500 meters along the coast on the southern edge of Kujukuri beach. The site hosted the surfing competition in the Tokyo Summer Olympics held in 2021.

Around 10 surfers continued their rescue effort into the afternoon.

“The dolphins seemed very exhausted,” a man watching the scene on the beach said. “Some of them were swept back to the shallow water by the waves even though they were taken to areas far from the coast.”

A woman who joined the task for around five hours said, “It was difficult as the sea was rough, but we could return around 20 dolphins to the sea.”

Melon-headed whales live in warmer parts of the ocean in temperatures of around 25 degrees, but they head north this time of the year to seek schools of sardines and other fish, according to Yukio Miyauchi, director of the Choshi Ocean Institute, which holds dolphin-watching tours off the coast of Chiba Prefecture’s Choshi.

“I believe that the dolphins entered chunks of cold water and their bodies were temporarily paralyzed,” Miyauchi said. “Then they were swept to the beach by strong winds.”

(This article was written by Sakiko Kondo and Tomoya Aie.)