Earthwatch - Wild Dolphin Societies
Teachers in the Field

January 13 - 14, 2002


Sunday January 13, 2002
    I took the two photos above from the airplane as we were coming in to the Sarasota airport.  You can see the airport in the distance and just beyond the airport is Sarasota Bay.  Beyond the bay is the Gulf of Mexico.  Tomorrow I'll be in that bay looking for the bottlenose dolphins that live here.
Questions:



Monday January 14, 2002
   We woke to the sound of rain and wind this morning.  It didn't prove a good omen for going out on the bay.  We showed up at Mote Marine Mammal Center at 9 AM to meet with Sue Hofmann, the co-principal investigator for the Dolphin Research Project.  Our boat survey trip was cancelled, so we sat with Sue while she introduced us to our tasks when we do get out to survey.
 
The equipment was kept in a cooler and we went over each item.  There were 3 clipboards for data: an environmental sheet to mark the clouds, the height of waves, sightability, glare, tide,  wind, water temperature, salinity, water clarity and location,  a data sheet which is the biggest job because each time a dolphin sighting occurs all the information is listed here, latitude and longitude, activity of dolphins, which direction they are heading, # of dolphins, conditions in the bay, # on roll of film and names of identifiable dolphins by their dorsal fins. Finally the third clipboard contained the maps of the surrounding waters.
 

 

There are film rolls, a film log, the refractometer for salinity, the GPS and the camera - a Nikon that can zoom in up to 300 times!

It felt a little overwhelming but once Sue assured us that once we got underway and we all worked together as a team, it would become easier. 
Here is one of the interns checking slides of dolphin fins and comparing them to past fins for identification.  

Below you see the binders of slides that are all dated and identified!  In the second binder you see maps of the route taken on each day that the team went out surveying and the data and environmental sheets that were completed on that particular survey trip.

It was impressive filing and research!

 

Look closely at these photos and you will see the notches in the fin that help identify the dolphin.

This dorsal fin has a virus that isn't fatal but seems to affect older male dolphins.

This fin identifies "Pumpkin" whose fin was damaged by a motorboat.

Riptorm shows the most damage and his dorsal fin is very noticeable.  

We are having a thunder and lightening storm tonight.  We hope tomorrow will be clear I'll so I can see my first dolphin in the wild and practice taking down data while in a moving boat.

I went this evening to hear Nigel of the Discover Channel talk at Mote Education Center.  It was terrific.  He showed advance video of his encounters with wild alligators in the Florida Everglades.  It will be on the Discover Channel in March.

I'll be answering all your STUPENDOUS questions and sending them to you in a separate attachment. In the photos above I answered one of them - "How can you tell one dolphin from another?"

Before I sign off, I must tell you that I saw a Pygmy Killer Whale calf, whose mother had beached herself and died, being kept in a tank at the Mote Marine Mammal Hospital.  I am going to stop in there tomorrow and take photos to send you.  Her name is Amy.

Have a great day!
Mrs. Johnson


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