My Dolphin Research Experience

One last post about my Spring Break adventures - One of my most exciting and memorable:

My brother is the Boat Operations Manager for Coastal Carolina University. He was taking a student out on a research boat for her to work on her behavior research project involving Bottlenose Dolphins. He volunteered me to go along to one of her five sites up an down the coast of South Carolina to help her. (He knows I have always loved dolphins).

So we went out to find dolphins and take pictures. I learned that what we were doing would have actually been against the law, if not for being with the research student who had a permit, because it is considered harassing the dolphins to follow them, try to get near them, etc. Boaters must maintain speed and course when they see a dolphin -- it is against the law to try to get closer to them for a better view, to take pictures, or whatever the reason.
The problem is, that this can be hard to enforce,
especially when it is not known whether there
are resident dolphins in certain areas, what the
population is, etc. 

Pictures courtesy of Sam Gary

The student we were with was cataloging the different in-shore dolphins, seeing who's who (identifying them by their dorsal fins - notches, markings, etc) to identify resident dolphins and determine "stocks" in certain locations, so that the dolphins of SC can be better protected (enforcement in identified locations, determining how people are impacting the dolphin population, etc.)

The research student said that Bottlenose dolphins on the east coast are considered depleted. One of the things that seems to be a big problem is people out on boats are harassing the dolphins, by chasing them, getting closer to them and often feeding them. Feeding them creates "beggars". Some dolphins are starting to associate boats with getting food, so they'll swim right up to the boat (we experienced this twice while out on the water that day). This begging behavior is only hurting the dolphins.  They often become injured or tangled because of it. So don't feed the dolphins -- it isn't helping them! Sure you may get an up close and personal experience, a cool story to tell, and great pictures, but it is very selfish and can end up hurting the dolphins!
--Crystal