This month, we conducted a dolphin health assessment project in Sarasota Bay. These dolphin health “check ups” are a key part of the data collection conducted through our program — the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population.

Over the course of the field project, the team gathered information for 47 research and monitoring projects. Some 200 participants were involved this year. 

One focus of the project was to train those who might be involved in stranding response of dolphin rescues, supported through a John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant. This grant supports training opportunities for law enforcement officers, veterinarians, residents, interns, stranding response personnel from other networks, dolphin handlers, dolphin catchers and others.

On June 7, one of the animals we were able to examine was F316, also known as 1993. If you’ll recall, this was a young male dolphin that we rescued from entanglement on April 1.

His entanglement was caused by poly-filament braided fishing line — a strong, sharp type of fishing line, also known as spiderwire, that is extremely deadly to wildlife. The line had cut 85 percent of the way through the right part of his tail and with every tail beat, the line was cutting further and further through. Within 40 minutes of finding him that day, we had removed the entanglement, examined him, given him a dose of antibiotics and released him.

The images below show the before and after pictures of the injuries to dolphin F316's tail. The top images were taken on the day of the intervention and the bottom images were taken during our recent health assessment. (Dorsal views on the left and ventral views on the right.)

We’ve been seeing him during our surveys periodically ever since his rescue. On June 7, we were able to examine him closely during the dolphin health assessment project when we found him in Little Sarasota Bay. We found that his fluke is healing very nicely, though there was a small, healed nubbin of tissue on the damaged portion of the trailing edge of his fluke, shaped like a hook, that had collected some monofilament fishing line. This time, the line was not cutting into his tissue but veterinarians removed the nubbin to reduce his chances of further entanglement.

F316 weighed about 134 pounds (61 kg) and his maximum girth was just under 3 feet (88 cm). This matched his girth from his April 1 rescue. Given that under normal circumstances dolphins lose girth going into the summer, we would consider this progress but we have to note that he is below the lower 95th percentile for weight and BMI for males his age.

After the checkup, F316 swam off strongly upon release and we saw him again over the next week. We were able to examine and sample 16 dolphins during our health assessment — we will have more findings to report in future communications.

Until next time, here’s to fair winds and following seas!

Randy

 

PS. Have you ever wanted to know more about the studies we’re conducting and how the data we gather during these checkups are used? If so, I encourage you to check out our annual print publication of Nicks n Notches. It provides an annual summary of studies we conduct and the many partners we work with throughout the year.

Name: F197

Age: 16

Sex: Female

A Dolphin's Life: F197 was the second calf of a dolphin nicknamed Murphy Brown and she’s also the grandcalf of FB05 — one of the first dolphins catalogued in Sarasota Bay in the early 1970s. We’ve sighted her more than 700 times since her birth in 2003.

Today, she’s a mom in her own right:

 

We frequently observe F197 in an area with high boat traffic that includes local recreational boats, rental boats and dolphin tour operations. We encourage all boaters to enjoy dolphins from at least 150 feet away, especially this time of year when dolphins have newborn calves to protect.

In Memoriam

It’s been just a year since we lost a good friend and wonderful research collaborator, Pablo Bordino (pictured on the right, next to Dr. Wells), Director of Fundacion AquaMarina , an NGO that protects marine wildlife and habitats in Argentina. Pablo was a frequent SDRP collaborator and one of the world’s foremost advocates for Franciscana dolphin conservation. Among his greatest accomplishments are his many dedicated students and volunteers who are carrying his conservation efforts forward. We’re heartened that AquaMarina is continuing his work.

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.