EcoSummit a Success!

SDRP had a great time this month at the EcoSummit in Sarasota, where Director Dr. Randy Wells and Deputy Director Dr. Katie McHugh had the opportunity to present information about Sarasota Bay’s dolphin community, and where we were able to talk with people about the local dolphin community, how we study them and their needs. Nearly 500 people attended the conference, and 1,100 attended an evening event with one of Florida’s best-known authors, Carl Hiaasen, environmental journalist Craig Pittman, and Randy. We want to thank the EcoSummit organizers, the Science and Environment Council, and its many sponsors for bringing the community together to focus on the environment we all share!

Notes from the Field and Lab

Heading into the last few weeks of the year is giving me an opportunity to look back on all that we’ve accomplished in 2023. We had some notable rescues — an entangled calf near Cedar Key in August, male calf “Fergie” off Marco Island in April, and 2-year-old calf “2094” in Sarasota Bay in February — and published a number of studies (among them: dolphin calf-mom communications, dolphin paternity, how human interactions affect dolphin fitness and how microplastics are making their way into the dolphin food web).

We also moved forward on a number of studies that had been put on hold because of the pandemic, including offshore dolphin tagging and health assessments. In fact, we just finished tracking the last offshore animal we tagged in 2023 — “Jay” is a nearly 9-foot male bottlenose dolphin we tagged on Sept. 18, 23 miles off Sarasota in 80 feet of water. We were able to follow along as Jay ranged offshore from Longboat Key to Cayo Costa and spent much of his time off Venice/Englewood, a surprisingly limited ranging pattern. His tag stopped transmitting on Nov. 27 after 70 days of tracking. Jay and the other offshore dolphins we tagged are providing new information on ranging patterns and other behaviors of animals that call the deeper waters of the West Florida Shelf in the Gulf home, and we look forward to continuing this study next year.

Jay's movements over 70 days.

One of our biggest accomplishments this year was the successful deployment of a tag with the new tagging tool, TADpole. SDRP and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) spent nearly a decade working to take the concept for this tool from design and engineering to field testing, and it is exciting to think about the positive impacts TADpole could have on dolphin conservation worldwide — particularly in locations where catch-and-release health assessments like those we perform off Sarasota are not possible.

It was also nice to close out the year at the EcoSummit focusing on big ideas about balancing growth and change with environmental protections that will help keep our communities — both our human ones and those of our dolphin neighbors — thriving.

I’m sure the EcoSummit sparked a lot of conversations in the community that I hope will lead to beneficial environmental actions. For my part, in addition to enjoying the event’s positive energy, I was able to meet up with colleagues to begin discussing new ways we could partner to help reduce one of humans’ most dangerous impacts on dolphins — fishing-gear related interactions, especially severe injuries from braided fishing line.

Did you know that fishing gear is the leading cause of human-related deaths of Sarasota Bay dolphins? We will be talking more about that next year, but in the meantime you can learn about these and other threats dolphins are facing in a new publication I have out this month: “Human Impacts on Dolphins,” chapter 14 in the new book The Physiology of Dolphins edited by our colleague Dr. Andreas Fahlman and Dr. Sascha K. Hooker. In this chapter, Andreas and I teamed up to tell the story of the growing human pressure being put on dolphin communities like Sarasota Bay’s and the implications it has for their future.

Before I sign off for 2023, I’d also like to take a moment to thank our staff — Drs. Katie McHugh, Krystan Wilkinson, Christina Toms and Kathryn Holmes, and Jason Allen, Robyn Allen, Aaron Barleycorn, Kim Bassos-Hull, Eizabeth Berens McCabe, Jonathan Crossman, Carolyn Cush, Kylee DiMaggio, and Allison Honaker — and our students and colleagues around the world. Because of their collective efforts, SDRP is able to have a positive impact on dolphins here in Sarasota, throughout the U.S. and worldwide.

I’d also like to thank you for your ongoing and continued support of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. We couldn’t do it without you!

Here’s looking ahead to a new year of fair winds, cooler waters, and following seas!

Randy Wells

ICYMI: In Case You Missed It!

Did you get a chance to see our latest annual report, Nick ‘n’ Notches? It’s posted on our website and you can use this snazzy QR code to read it now!

Donate online to the Chicago Zoological Society, which has operated the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program since 1989. (Be sure to indicate that your donation is for the SDRP.)

For more information on how you can help support wild dolphin research, please email Randy Wells, Director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, or call 941.374.0449.

Dolphin Biology Research Institute — DBA Sarasota Dolphin Research Program — is dedicated to research and conservation of dolphins and their habitat. 

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