Manoliño, the 'lawless' Galician dolphin who survived the harpoon and swims with humans

• Scandal The mafia behind the hunting dogs kidnapped by animalists

In December 2019, a bottlenose dolphin appeared swimming in the Galician estuary of Muros-Noia

.

Although these cetaceans usually move in a herd, he was alone.

At first, they were isolated sightings.

Shellfish workers who worked in the area saw him cautiously approach their boats and, little by little, he began to seek more human contact.

Then, the pandemic broke out and they baptized him with the affectionate name of 'Confi' in reference to those days when they did not interact with anyone else.

By the time the strictest confinement ended, he was already one of a gang of 'navalleiros' from the Noia brotherhood and, among them, he had a special friend,

.

Almost three years have passed since those first interactions and that friendship lives on and, with each new campaign of the knife, they meet again.

It happened in 2021. And also in 2022. Now, this Galician shellfisher is looking forward to Monday, January 23.

That day, they will dive again in search of knives -it was scheduled for this week, but the storm delayed it- and he trusts that it will come out to meet them.

'Confi' continues to be its official name, but it is commonly known as 'Manoliño', a very Galician name for a dolphin that has become another resident of this coast.

.

He is already one of them and in recent months they have suffered seeing him in serious danger.

in his left side inside the port of O Freixo, in Outes, one of his most frequented habitats.

Neighbors of the area and the Coordinator for the Study of Marine Mammals (CEMMA) lived two frantic weeks and created an aid network to try to save him.

Divers and experts swam past her to remove the instrument from her side.

, but it continued to move several miles along the Coruña coast, but there was concern about a possible evolution, so all kinds of attempts were made for days;

on five occasions they approached to remove it and about thirty volunteers came together to try to retain it long enough to remove it, but it was not possible.

The most a diver managed was to move the harpoon.

Those wounded days he was much more distant than usual, he began to withdraw more and more.

An "increase in mistrust", they explained then from CEMMA.

Finally, '

.

Two weeks after he was speared by "some crook" who has yet to be identified, he was free.

A month later, in December, he was again seen swimming as it seems more comfortable, with other human swimmers.

Roger saw him those days from land.

He hasn't swam with him since in September his brotherhood stopped descending in search of razors and he dedicated himself to other fishing gear.

He does know that he is fine because he also saw

, whom "Crónica" has not been able to identify.

Nobody wants to provide his identity because it is known that swimming with him is prohibited.

"If I knew who he was, I would surely tell the Civil Guard his name, not the press, because what he does is illegal," explains Alfredo López, from CEMMA, very hard on the behavior of those who see Confi as an attraction and not a living being with its particularities.

'Manoliño' is a rare specimen of solitary bottlenose dolphin that has no known group of the same species with which it interacts, which is why it has come so close to humans, but

.

"They are changing their behavior and it is dangerous. You can see it with the harpoon," explains Alfredo López.

This biologist, one of the leading specialists in cetaceans, recalls that Royal Decree 1727/2007, which establishes protection measures for cetaceans, prohibits human physical contact and that

It is not the case of 'Manoliño' until now.

This decree recalls that the interactions "alter the behavior patterns of cetaceans, due to a constant state of stress produced by the movement of boats and the persecution to which they are subjected on numerous occasions" and indicates that activities such as feeding them or bathing and diving with them "may harm, disturb or disturb cetaceans".

His experience gives Roger a different view of this dolphin-human friendship.

He knows that swimming with dolphins is not allowed, but he insists that it is 'Manoliño' who scrutinizes him while he works.

"Many times we change the area when we see him, but after five minutes he finds us again.

," he explains.

At first, he "didn't get too close", when they submerged to work, he would move away, "snoop around keeping his distance", but he "was closing that distance".

A relationship cultivated over a slow fire that "was not a friendship bought."

"I received criticism, but it doesn't matter to me because I know what happened, I never charmed him or called him or offered him food, he was breaking the barrier," she insists.

and he ended up at the doctor and there are other fishermen who are afraid of him, but not Roger.

He has "respect" for her.

He sometimes causes them problems because he "likes to play with the hoses, he pulls them and twists them", so he can force them to ascend quickly, with danger to the eardrums and bad decompression.

Still, he likes to cultivate his friendship.

"I mean having him as a friend."

And he has noticed that if he arrives more aggressive and gives him affection, "he calms down".

This is not the case when groups of children approach him on the beach or people come out to meet him abruptly without him looking for them.

He is not a supporter of these interactions and warns of the danger of a flap.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Galicia