Fisherman spots dolphin in Chipping Norton Lake

A FISHERMAN was amazed to spot a dolphin in the upper reaches of the Georges River at Chipping Norton Lake — but there are fears for the mammal’s health.

• Three shark sightings in a month at Chipping Norton Lake
• Dolphins spotted in Parramatta River
• Shark signs installed at lake

A month after three shark sightings, a keen fisherman was shocked to see a dolphin in Chipping Norton’s brackish waters.

Having fished at the south west Sydney lake for the last 30 years, the man known as Red by the locals said he didn’t believe another fisherman when they said it.

“I was putting the boat in about 8am at the ramp on the Chipping Norton side on Saturday,” Red said.

“As I was launching the boat, another angler said: ‘There’s a dolphin out there’. I thought he was joking, then I spotted it.”

The dolphin in Chipping Norton Lake

Pictures clearly show the dolphin in Chipping Norton Lake.

Georges River Combined Councils Committee river keeper co-ordinator Tony Wales was concerned to get a call from the Liverpool Leader about the animal.

He said it was about 20km beyond its normal habitat.

“That surprises me. Sharks, those sightings didn’t surprise me, but dolphins don’t go much past Oatley at the river,” he said.

“It’s got to be lost. We’ll be reporting that to the responsible authority. The water at Oatley is very healthy and has a daily flushing from the ocean.

Shark warning signs were installed along the Chipping Norton Lake to warn users. Picture: Tim Clapin

“Up there (Chipping Norton Lake), there is brackish water. I’m concerned about its health.”

“It’d be sick by now. It would not be in a healthy condition. If it’s around, they need to catch it and relocate it.”

Red said he could tell it was a dolphin and not a shark, which have been reportedly spotted in the lake this year. He said there was a distinct dorsal fin and it was doing a big circle in the water.

He said if he wasn’t in his boat, from the shore it could easily have been mistaken for a shark.

There were a handful of bull shark sightings in Chipping Norton Lake earlier this year.

“I got close enough to get video and photo to prove it was a dolphin, but not too close like some of the other fishermen.

“I can see why people think it’s a shark. From shore you’d see a fin and think it was a shark but its head was coming out of the water then down again.

“The way it was coming out of the water. It looked like it was feeding. You could tell by the way it was breathing.”

He said the dolphin hung around the boat ramp area all day.

“I came back around 2pm and it was still hanging around. I don’t know if someone like Sea World should be notified — it could be sick or lost, who knows,” he said.

“I’ve been on water all my life ... it’s the weirdest thing I’ve seen.

“I’ve seen what I thought was a mullet that had been stunned. It was vertical with its tail out of the water.

“I see turtles and kingfisher birds. People don’t think there’s wildlife out there, but there is.”

Red said he’d heard of dolphins coming in as far as Tom Ugly’s Bridge, but not this far.

“It’s brackish water — but there is a lot of mullet in the lake at the moment,” he said.

Keith and Alan Morrin are the nephews of Beryl Morrin, the woman who was attacked by a shark back in the 1930s and had both her hands bitten off in Chipping Norton Lake.

In May, shark warning signs were erected at the lake, warning users of the possibility of sharks in the water, following a handful of reports in April.

For the Morrin family, the signs couldn’t have come any sooner. Keith and Alan Morrin’s relative Beryl, 13, was attacked by a shark in 1935.

She’d been playing in the Georges River at Kentucky Reserve, got out of the water and her brother threw mud on her back.

She re-entered the water to wash it off and, in her recount to sister-in-law Benice Morrin, was standing waist-deep when she heard a noise and noticed movement in the water.

“She froze, not daring to move, hoping it would go away. She screamed as she spotted the shark circling her,” Keith Morrin said.

“It grabbed her by the arm, dragged her under the water and tossed her into the air. She tried to push the shark away and it grabbed her left hand too.”

Liverpool Council chief executive Michael Cullen said seven signs would be put up around the lake where users are most active.

These include Chipping Norton boat ramp, Chipping Norton Sailing Club launch area, Grand Flaneur Beach, Angle Beach and the roadway entrance to Heron Park and Davy Robinson boat ramp at Moorebank.

He said they were there to “alert people to the dangers of sharks”.

Since the signs were installed, a local said the boat ramp shark warning sign had already been stolen.