Nicks 'n' Notches Online
A monthly newsletter from the SDRP
December 2018
Learn More About Our Work
Our Nicks n Notches print publication summarizing the annual highlights from our research team has been printed and is available online if you’d like to learn more about the research that we conducted in 2018. The report includes sections on conservation research, studies of dolphin behavior, social structure and communication, dolphin health and physiology, dolphin rescues and more.

Field & Lab Notes
By Randy Wells, Ph.D., Director
I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!

2018 has been quite a year, with some high notes for dolphin conservation programs we work with around the world, along with some low points closer to home as a severe red tide bloom impacted our local Sarasota Bay dolphin population.

You might remember that we participated in international workshops in 2012, 2014 and 2017 in Cambodia, dedicated to addressing the status of the Mekong River dolphins — an isolated population being impacted by entanglement in illegal fishing nets.

At the time conservation efforts began in earnest, there were only 70 or so dolphins in the population.

Researchers were able to identify and characterize the situation and the World Wildlife Fund-Cambodia and the Cambodian government established a team of River Guards to remove nets from the river and discourage illegal fishing.

These efforts seem to be bearing fruit and today about 92 Mekong River dolphins remain, living in Cambodia in a short stretch of the river flowing south from the waterfalls at the border with Laos. Though small, the increased number of Mekong River dolphins and decreased mortalities are clearly improvements — the decline appears to be turning around.

One of the recommendations from the international workshops was for the Cambodian research team to obtain training at other research sites in some of the methods used to build and maintain photo-identification catalogs and use it to analyze population trends.
I’m pleased to report that we had the pleasure of hosting a team of four Cambodians from Nov. 25 through Dec. 7 for training on our field, laboratory and data processing and analysis techniques.

The team was led by Mr. Phay Somany, Deputy Director of the Fisheries Conservation Department of FiA and Counterpart with WWF as the Government Liaison, and Dr. Lindsay Porter, Senior Scientist and Operations Manager for Asia Pacific Projects for the Sea Mammal Research Unit of the University of St Andrews - Hong Kong.

Lindsay and Somany summarized the team’s experience in Sarasota with our team:
“What a fantastic time we had at the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program! Our Cambodian dolphin team had only ever worked on one species — the Mekong River dolphin - and exclusively in a riverine environment. So to be able to go to sea for the first time was an incredible experience — particularly on those bitterly cold and blustery days! We took part in the many research techniques employed by the multi-faceted SDRP and particularly enjoyed learning how to conduct a ‘focal follow’ study, which we hope to use in Cambodia in the future. Critical to our continued conservation work in Cambodia, we also learned how to use ‘FinBase,’ which will allow us to store our now decade-long photo-identification catalogue in a way that will allow future analyses to be conducted with ease. Experience and knowledge gained will significantly contribute in improving the current management and conservation of the critically endangered Mekong River dolphin. We look forward to inviting our new friends at SDRP to join us in Cambodia, to show you how we have put all the lessons we learned into practice!”

The researchers also thanked the Chicago Zoological Society, the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito, California, and the Disney Conservation Fund for jointly hosting them for the training.

We continue to work with dolphin research programs around the world to support dolphin conservation and I recently participated in a workshop on “ Ex Situ Options for Cetacean Conservation” in Nuremberg, Germany. This workshop was a product of the 2017 Vaquita CPR project which I helped to manage and the focus was on identifying other species of at-risk small cetaceans for which ex situ conservation might be an option and determining what needs to be learned before it can be known if ex situ options will be realistic for them.

We also have been tracking a ~10-year-old male Atlantic spotted dolphin that was released in October off Bimini, in the Bahamas following rehabilitation by the Atlantis Animal Rescue Team where he was taken after stranding. Lamda, observed by the Wild Dolphin Project off Bimini since 2013, was tagged with a satellite-linked transmitter before release and we have been following his movements ever since. Over the first two months of tracking, the dolphin moved back and forth along the southwest edge of the Great Bahama Bank, and most recently has remained in the waters near his release site in his previous range.

Closer to home, we had a tough year in the Sarasota dolphin community as a severe red tide caused great devastation among marine animals, including fish, manatees, sea turtles and dolphins.

To better understand the impacts of the red tide to the health of the ecosystem, we were able to continue our monthly dolphin photographic identification population monitoring surveys and fish population surveys thanks to support from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.

While the red tide appears to be receding, we know that it caused dramatic declines in fish abundance: Catches of primary dolphin prey fish are down some 90% from expected levels.

Sadly, we lost at least five of our resident dolphins — at least two of them to red tide toxins — including three within one week in November in a very localized area near a major fish kill. With support from Mote Scientific Foundation, we increased the frequency of our fish sampling and we have been conducting a biopsy dart sampling program to try to define changes in diet using stable isotope analyses.

On a brighter note, we know that at least seven of the 11 new calves documented this year have survived. A new grant from Dolphin Quest will help to support 2019 bottlenose dolphin health assessments, which will allow us gain new insights into the impacts left behind by the red tide.

As 2018 comes to an end, I want to offer my profound gratitude to you — our friends, colleagues and donors — who continue to cheer us on in our travels and triumphs, who share in our losses and who remain unwavering in your support of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and the knowledge that we are able to gain to conserve wild dolphin populations in our backyard and around the world.
 
I wish you all fair winds and following seas for 2019!
 
Randy Wells
This July 2018 picture shows Saida Beth with her 11th calf.
Give a Gift that Saves Dolphins
We’ve been studying the resident dolphins that call Sarasota Bay home for nearly 50 years — learning about and documenting their behaviors and social structures; their population dynamics and communications. We’ve borne witness to hundreds of dolphin births and been there to learn what we could from dolphin deaths.

We’ve put what we’ve learned into action to help improve the lives of Sarasota Bay dolphins through community education and by promoting responsible fishing and viewing habits.

As this summer proved, dolphins locally and around the world still need our help.

If you believe in the work we do and will be making any charitable donations before the end of the year, please consider supporting the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.
 
 
OR
 
  • You can mail a check to Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, 708 Tropical Circle, Sarasota, FL 34242
 
Gift checks mailed via U.S. Postal Service with check date on or before Dec. 31, 2018 will be counted for 2018, regardless of when they are received. Gifts made online before midnight EST on Dec. 31, 2018, will be counted for 2018.
 
We thank you for your support!

This picture shows a group of four long-term resident mothers and their calves entering Big Pass from the Gulf.   

Over the decades, we helped three of the four moms in this picture:  
  • During a health assessment in 1988, we removed a stingray barb from the head of the yearling's mother. 
  • We were among the first responders when Ginger stranded on Siesta Beach in 2008, within sight of where we were watching her with her second calf.
  • Nellie, who we rescued and disentangled from plastic line embedded in the skin around her head in 2010, was in the group, with her first calf. 

Who knows how many of these six dolphins would be with us today had it not been for SDRP's help?
Research, Conservation
and Education Since 1970
The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) is a collaboration dedicated to dolphin research, conservation and education.  
 
It began in 1970 at Mote Marine Laboratory when Blair Irvine and high school student Randy Wells started a pilot tagging study to find out whether dolphins on Florida's central west coast remained in the area or traveled more widely. In 1974, with a contract from the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, they were joined by Michael Scott and expanded the study with radio-telemetry.
 
Their subsequent discovery of long-term dolphin residency set the stage for today's efforts by demonstrating opportunities to study individually identifiable dolphins throughout their lives in a natural laboratory setting.  

Our work is conducted under the name "Sarasota Dolphin Research Program." This name ties together several organizations dedicated to ensuring the continuity of our long-term research, conservation and education efforts in Sarasota Bay and elsewhere.

The SDRP has been operated by the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) since 1989. 

"Dolphin Biology Research Institute," is a Sarasota-based 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation established in 1982. It provides logistical support with research vessels, towing vehicles, computers, cameras, field equipment, etc. Since 1992, the program has been based at Mote Marine Laboratory on City Island in Sarasota Bay, with office, lab, storage and dock space and easy access to boat launching ramps within the home range of the Sarasota Bay resident dolphins.