No, a different kind of flipper

Dolphins are hanging out the East River and New York Harbor. They’ve been spotted off Darien the past few weeks, so this isn’t altogether surprising news (although it will be surprising if they survive the East River) but it’s still pretty neat.

The WSJ article I’ve linked-to attributes the return of Flipper and his pals to cleaner water, and conservation efforts that have replenished the menhaden population. The latter I’d attribute to the government’s doing something right for once, banning the Russian trawlers that were sweeping Long Island Sound and the surrounding waters clear of menhaden and grinding it into fishmeal. The commies cleared out the food fish, and the pescatorial diners on those fish: bluefish, striped bass and, apparently, dolphins, all left. Now they’re coming back — hooray.