Nicks 'n' Notches Online
A monthly enewsletter from the
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program
Oct. 23, 2020
Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary
It was wonderful to have so many of you join us during our 50th Anniversary virtual celebration on Oct. 3! This year is truly a milestone in the history of our program — and in dolphin research.

Long-term study is crucial for understanding the lives of long-lived species and for being able to detect population trends relative to environmental change.

The knowledge we’ve gained has helped to improve protections for wild bottlenose dolphins throughout the southeastern U.S., and we look forward to spending the next 50 years continuing to help improve the conditions in the neighborhoods we share with the dolphins!
Notes from the Field and Lab
When we began thinking about ways to celebrate our milestone 50th year, our initial plans called for an in-person symposium focused on our dolphin research and the achievements that we, along with our research partners and colleagues, have made over the past five decades. Though we still hope to make that happen in 2021, when the pandemic hit, we knew we needed to change our plans to a virtual platform.

Preparing for that program gave us an opportunity to review our accomplishments — to really take stock of where we’ve been and where we’re going for the next 50 years.
The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program is so far beyond anything that I could have imagined when I was 16 and helping Blair Irvine begin tagging dolphins in Sarasota Bay in 1970. We had no idea of the complex lives that dolphins live or that these initial studies and findings would result in a pioneering model for dolphin research and conservation that is used worldwide today. 

It was especially gratifying to recognize the people and organizations that have helped us achieve so much for dolphin conservation over the years. It’s humbling to realize how far we’ve come and I’m grateful to acknowledge that supporters like you have helped make this all possible. I want to thank you for being there for us — and for dolphins — along the way.
One key takeaway from our five decades of research is that many dolphins live in coastal neighborhoods for many generations and that, as their neighbors, we humans need to do what we can to protect the health of this shared space — to make sure dolphins can continue to survive and thrive. Another is that we must always incorporate our new knowledge into our conservation efforts.

A new IUCN report “Ex situ options for cetacean conservation” is a good example of this. 

The report, released this month, calls for developing a better toolbox to help save species and populations of small dolphins and porpoises most at risk of extinction. It stems from a meeting of cetacean experts (37 experts from 14 countries) that took place in Germany in 2018, where we discussed recent extinctions or risk of extinction of some of the world’s most endangered cetaceans, including Vaquita porpoises, Atlantic humpback dolphins, Yangtze finless porpoises, Franciscana dolphins, and Indus and Ganges River dolphins.

These species are all at risk because of human activities.

The report recommends that marine mammal conservationists around the world work together and act with urgency to consider critically needed conservation measures both in wild environments within the species’ geographic range (in situ) and in protected or modified environments within or outside that range (ex situ) as a holistic framework for species conservation called the “One Plan approach.”

While some may associate the term “ex situ conservation” with animals in human care, ex situ approaches really comprise a variety of actions, including safeguarding animals in protected environments such as semi-natural reserves; initiating research programs to fill knowledge gaps about species’ biology and threats; rescue and release of stranded or otherwise incapacitated individuals; and public engagement programs to promote understanding and support of species conservation. 

After 50 years of dolphin research, I’m gratified as I look back on all we’ve learned, but this IUCN report — and the dolphins and porpoises facing extinction because of human activities — are our reminder to us all that there is still much to do.

I thank you for joining us in our journey!

Randy Wells
Fin of the Month
Name: FB54
Age: 49
Sex: Female
A dolphin’s life: FB54 was born in 1971, and is currently the oldest known Sarasota resident dolphin. She has been observed 1,500 times since we first met her in August 1975 — the second highest number of sightings for any dolphin in our catalog.

This female has given birth to eight calves, the most recent in 2012 when she was 41, and this calf has remained with her into 2020. 
As you can see in the sighting map, her ranging patterns have remained very stable over the four-plus decades that we’ve known her. She uses the entire community range, but the northern portion is her “core area.”

Thanks to our monthly Photographic Identification Surveys, we know that one of her calves, born in 2000 and nicknamed Tricia, has given birth to three of FB54’s grand-calves. Based on paternity analyses by Dr. Debbie Duffield, of Portland State University, we know that FB54’s son, Jocko, born in 1996, sired one grand-calf.

These ongoing studies conducted by members of the SDRP team and its partners have allowed us to learn a great deal about the community of dolphins that call Sarasota Bay home.
In the picture to the left, SDRP Research Assistant Jonathan Crossman takes a picture of FB54 (left) and F275 during a Photographic Identification Survey on Oct. 12, 2020.

The photo below shows FB54 fishwhacking a mullet on the same day.
Want More Dolphins? Follow Us on Social Media
We’re on Facebook (@sarasotadolphins), Twitter (@dolphinsarasota) and Instagram (@SarasotaDolphinResearchProgram). Be sure to check us out and watch for these tags: #tursiopstuesday, #funfact, #history.

Celebrating
50 Years of Research,
Conservation and Education
To make a contribution to the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, please contact: Melissa Obrock, Director of Philanthropic Partnerships, at 708.688.8394 or Melissa.Obrock@czs.org.
Dolphin Biology Research Institute — DBA Sarasota Dolphin Research Program — is dedicated to research and conservation of dolphins and their habitat. Community Foundation of Sarasota County Giving Partner Profile available here.

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