Facts about dolphins

Marine scientists talks about dolphins and other creatures during Water Expo

2010-03-27T15:24:00.000-05:00

Marine scientist and Key Biscayne resident, Edward Keith, recently addressed students grades K-8 at the International Christian School at the 10th Annual Science Fair/Water Expo. Professor Keith of Nova University had just returned from Ecuador where he was studying manatees. Keith is known internationally for his studies in the area of marine mammals including whales, manatees, and dolphins.

Keith was able to find time in his busy schedule to be a part of ICS’s two day Water Expo in which students from K-8 presented research, studies and experiments all related to water. Rain, thunderstorms and babbling brooks could be heard as you entered the hall and display boards with facts and art related to water were snuggly placed from wall to wall. Some of the winners included using water in the creation of Solar Panels and studying pulse rates after drinking Gatorade. The 2nd Grade class conducted a water study with disturbing results in which they found Aquafina followed by Smart Water to be the cleanest, and Figi and Zephyrhill water to be the dirtiest after measuring it with a water quality (TPS) meter. All measurements were taken in parts per million. Aquafina, the winner, uses a reverse osmosis process.

Since the death of SeaWorld killer whale trainer, Dawn Brancheau on February 24th, students and the press alike have been particularly interested in Professor Keith’s insight on this tragedy. While addressing ICS students Keith remained neutral, merely conveying the recent official investigative results in which it was decided that the killer whale, Tilikum, would remain at Sea World.

Film develops awareness about the slaughtering of dolphins and whales

2010-03-27T14:52:00.000-05:00

THOSE Boy's Own adventurers from The Cove have done it again. The lads who won an Oscar for exposing dolphin culling in the Japanese town of Taiji have just busted a Santa Monica sushi restaurant for illegally selling endangered whale meat.

Fearless Western filmmakers: two. Evil Asian dolphin killers and whale eaters: zero.

Hurrah!

There's just one problem. Actually there's a whole bunch of problems, but let's start with the issue of animal magnetism. Why is it that some species attract so much more compassion and activist attention than others? Are dolphins and whales more intrinsically worthy of being saved than less glamorous animals such as the Markhor goat and Chatham albatross? Or have they -- like human stars -- achieved their celebrity status as a result of serendipitous circumstance, genetic luck and media spin?

At least some of the answers lie in The Cove, the 2009 enviro-mentary directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos. This movie opens with the story of Ric O'Barry, who caught and trained dolphins for the cult 1960s TV show Flipper before having a Damascene conversion. This turnaround, he says, was the result of watching one of the Flipper dolphins commit suicide in his arms rather than endure another moment of captivity.

O'Barry's admirable but obsessive concern for small cetaceans is universal but his specific fixation is the Japanese port town of Taiji. Here, local fisherfolk muster dolphins so international buyers can select the most photogenic, Flipper-esque specimens for their dolphinariums. Rejects of this aquatic casting coach are then herded into an isolated cove protected by snarling guards before being speared to death and sold for their mercury-filled meat. The Cove's covert footage of this carnage sparked international outrage.

Like daytrippers seduced by the colour and movement of the novelty whale boats in Taiji, it's easy to be taken in by the film's worthy and ostensibly ideologically innocuous externals. Most reviewers fawned, with The New York Times gushing over its audacious and adroit powers, and Time magazine calling it spectacularly compelling. Earlier this month, it was awarded an Oscar for best documentary feature.

This "living, breathing movie", however, has a dark secret. Deep in its hidden nooks and crannies, innocent facts, evidence and balance are rounded up and slaughtered like so many dolphin babies on their way to a bento box.

Oh, all right. This is obviously an over-the-top and insane claim. But it's not so different from The Cove's portrayal of Taiji's fisherfolk as callous murderers; the sort of vile bastards who think nothing of greeting Free Willy and Flipper with chopsticks and soy sauce. These men are depicted as every dolphin's worst nightmare despite being at the bottom of the dolphin "slave trade" food chain.

The fisherfolks' status as villains in the film is in direct and inverse proportion to the saintliness of the dolphins, which are subjected to a sickeningly saccharine anthropomorphism. They're repeatedly framed as non-human people whose kindness, intelligence and ability to enjoy sensuous tummy rubs from spunky freedivers with strap-on tails may even surpass our own.

No references are made to the animals' interest in infanticide, macho brawls and blow-hole sex. Presumably the filmmakers thought these facts might adversely affect their subjects' ratings on the concerned world's all-important cute-o-meter.

Unfortunately, overplaying or inventing dolphins' human-like traits in this context carries the implication that ugly, stupid, surly creatures -- creatures whose mouths aren't shaped like human smiles -- aren't equally entitled to continuing existences.

Few of us will find the time to develop deep, quasi-spiritual connections with every endangered species on earth (particularly if that species happens to be the eyeless blind cave beetle or the frumpy eastern bristlebird). But it'd be a shame if we directed our conservation efforts only to those planetary dwellers that looked pretty or could playfully balance coloured balls on their noses.

The other big problem with unexamined assumptions about creatures' killability is that such judgments aren't consistent across cultures and therefore run the risk of cultural insensitivity or outright racism.

In The Cove, O'Barry is appalled that visitors to Taiji can watch dolphins perform while eating them. But the pairing of these activities seems on par with Australians chucking kangaroo steaks on barbies in national parks. Dolphin defenders may point to The Cove's massacre scenes -- to the squeals of distressed beasts and a seething ocean of blood -- arguing that the manner of killing is as problematic as the killing itself. But, once again, industrial-strength double standards are at play here.

I've visited Australian cow, pig, sheep and chicken abattoirs and can attest that these are bloody disturbing, too. And at least the Taiji dolphins enjoy free-range conditions rather than battery farming before they meet their brutal unmakers.

So while The Cove's emotive and mono-sided treatment of its topic may help a smattering of one species in one part of the world, its helpfulness to the big picture planet-saving project is likely to be negligible. If anything, its aggressive cultural stereotyping may make Japan even more recalcitrant in the international stand-off over whaling.

It's also worth considering why so many cinemagoers are happy for such blatant polemic to be billed as documentary. This Trojan horsing of propaganda has a long history and is something most of us are quite cluey about.

But it's as if everyone turns off their bullshit detectors when they turn on The Cove because it involves appealing mammals rather than Michael Moore.

Perhaps Psihoyos gets away with it because -- like his oceanic subjects -- he's easy on the eye. What isn't attractive is the self-righteous and school-boyish glee he and his sanctimonious chums take in using their big boys' toys to outwit the Japanese and score their king-hit carnage footage.

This, for me, is the reason the most telling scene in the movie isn't the one with the dying dolphins. It's the shot where a Taiji fisherman -- a guy the filmmakers nickname Private Space because they say these are the only English words he knows -- is confronted by a wall of filmic technology and, refusing to go down without a fight, raises a tiny hand-held camera in his defence.

Private Space is not a likable character but this futile gesture of defiance does raise the question of whether the filmmakers, with their military-quality gear, and the dolphins, with their celebrity cheersquads, really are the underdogs in this picture.

info@emmatom.com.au

Protecting dolphin's specie from extinction

2009-11-19T19:11:00.000-06:00

Hon Jim Anderton

Member of Parliament for Wigram
Progressive Leader

19 November 2009
Media Speech

Does the law support sustainability of our fisheries?

A Law, Policy and Science Symposium, Otago University Stadium Centre, Wellington

Has anyone here eaten fish and chips recently?

Because apparently I’m the minister who took the fish out of fish and chips.

The fact that someone could even say that shows you how far we are from having a rational debate about the right of a minister to protect our fishing resource. Last time I looked, there was still fish in my fish and chips.

What I actually did, as Minister of Fisheries was introduce new rules in an effort to save the world's rarest and smallest dolphin from extinction. What I tried to do was pass an amendment to the 1996 Fisheries Act which would have struck the right balance between sustainability and the need to use and fish our oceans. It would have made it clear that the most important part of the minister’s job, on behalf of all New Zealanders, is to protect the sustainability of our fishing resource.

As the law stands today, it remains vague about when a minister can err on the side of caution, and act to protect a species like Orange Roughey (let alone endangered mammals like the Hector and Maui dolphins.)

Without this amendment, the Act bucks international best practice. It makes it almost impossible to come down on the side of sustainability. Because before a minister can do anything, the Act insists that the information and the science prove beyond doubt that a fish stock is at risk of catastrophic depletion.

In reality, the information we get is often incomplete and flawed. It’s very hard to follow the behaviour of a fish stock. It’s an imperfect science.

That’s why internationally, there is consensus that where information is uncertain or flawed, ministers should adopt a precautionary approach, and should not use the uncertainty of the information as a reason for postponing or failing to take measures to protect species.

This lack of clarity in the New Zealand law has allowed the fishing industry to take ministers to court when they come down on the side of protection, because they can claim that the proof is not absolute.

I couldn’t get the support across the House to get this amendment passed. This was a surprise to me, because when it had its first reading in parliament, I seemed to have the support of most political parties. Certainly the comments in the house were positive!

National MP Phil Heatley said he supported the Bill because it “provided a clearer direction to the minister..to take a cautious approach”. But between then and when the Bill was taken to Select Committee, something happened. The National Party, the Maori Party and NZ First all miraculously changed their minds. What happened? I’ll tell you what happened - certain lobby groups in the industry spoke to those MPs. The industry got to them.

And so here we are today, with nothing changed.

It’s ironic; this week, New Zealand was rated by a leading ocean studies journal as “the world’s top performing country for managing its marine and fishery resources.” The same Phil Heatley who back in 2007 allowed the industry to tell him what to do, the same Phil Heatley who made sure the Bill to improve the legislation didn’t make it out of select committee, is now the Fisheries Minister.

He couldn’t wait to tell everyone the good news about this award. What he didn’t say in his press release is that he is responsible, along with others, for the fact that we can’t implement those policies that helped us get the award, because he and others let the industry get to him before we could amend and clarify the law.

I want to make something very clear; commercial fishing is good for New Zealand. It creates jobs, and it creates exports, which help to grow our economy. But it must be done sustainably.

When I was asked to make the decision to close some of the in-shore fisheries to protect the Maui dolphin in particular and also the Hector dolphin, one of the first things I asked was - what effect would this have on the livelihoods of the fishermen affected? I felt that the economic analysis I was presented with wasn’t satisfactory. So I decided to get a full analysis done.

Plenty of people were telling me not to; they said it would only provide ammunition for the fishing industry. But I wanted all of the facts.

The economic analysis showed that 380 jobs would be lost. That to me made the decision agonising. I certainly didn’t go into politics to destroy jobs. And therefore I was very careful to minimise the impact on people affected, by taking as hard a line as I could on which areas would be protected.

In the end, the rules I introduced were not the most severe of the options proposed to me. I had to strike the best achievable balance between fishing activity and the protection of two iconic species.

We ended up with a variety of regional bans and other restrictions on set netting, trawling and drift netting in coastal waters. Set netting was banned around much of the South Island's coast, and there were new trawl restrictions close to shore on the east and south coasts.

On the upper North Island's west coast existing set net bans were extended, and new trawling and drift netting bans were introduced.

We had to do something. Alongside the economic analysis I had, the other piece of advice I was given was that we were facing the imminent extinction of these species of dolphin. At the time there were fewer than 8,000 Hector dolphins, mostly around the South Island. And the North Island Maui's dolphin was estimated to number only around 111 dolphins. It was classified as "nationally critical" by the Department of Conservation.

In all of the discussion about my decision to protect the dolphin I am yet to hear anyone say that it’s a good idea to be blasé about making an entire species - let alone a species of mammal - extinct on our watch.

Instead those who thought I was wrong claimed they’d never seen dolphin in the area of the fishery that I closed. That’s plainly because the number of dolphin has significantly reduced; there are hardly any Maui dolphins left! So of course you’re not going to see, let alone, catch them very often. But you only have to catch one in five years to risk the entire future of the Maui dolphin species.

Therefore, it was shocking to me that the law allowed the industry to use the courts to override my decision to reduce the risks to such an iconic species of mammals - native only in New Zealand.

It’s hard to understand why the fishing industry won’t see that taking a cautious approach in the short term is best for the industry too. We all benefit in the long run, when the resource grows.

That’s why the Act needs amending. It must be clear, so that lawyers and judges can’t fill the gap where there is any uncertainty. While the Act has two purposes - to provide for the utilisation of the oceans, while preserving sustainability, its paramount obligation must be to protect any species of fish or mammal where ever there is a need, even when the information is uncertain or limited.

After the courts overturned parts of my decision to close certain areas to commercial fishing, the industry seemed to think they’d won a victory. Of course this was only an interim decision, and we are still waiting for a final ruling from the High Court. I still hope that commonsense will prevail.

But at the time, I still got a letter from the fishing industry gloating that no dolphin had been recorded as caught during the interim moratorium. The letter was signed off - smugly- “We all make mistakes don’t we Jim...?”

We do all make mistakes - but this was not one of mine. The smug arrogant attitude of the fishing lobby clearly shows in how much peril the dolphins remain.

I had another letter from a commercial fisherman that was written in a different tone. The fisherman wrote to tell me that he had once caught a dolphin, and not declared it. He had felt guilty ever since, and he wanted the minister of fisheries to know that dolphins and other endangered species do end up in the nets of commercial fishermen.

To be fair, the parts of the coast that the judge kept open were areas where the evidence of peril to the dolphin was weakest. On the other hand, I’d already made my decision to exclude from the closure some areas where a case existed for closure to protect the dolphins. I did that because I wanted to reduce the affects of job losses as much as possible.

For that, I was vigorously attacked by sections of the conservation movement. Their attacks were not wholly unjustified because there certainly was some small risk. But in my view it is unacceptable that the law allowed a greater risk to be taken than the one I’d already accepted; because I’d already pushed the boundary back as far as I considered reasonable and balanced.

The policy that the law allows today is a grotesque abdication of parliamentary responsibility and, in my view, was never intended to be the outcome when parliament passed the Act in 1996.
Section 10 of the original Act fails to make it clear that when the information about a fish stock is incomplete, but on balance the evidence points to a looming crisis in stock numbers, the minister must not use that flawed information as a reason to delay or fail to protect that species.

That failure to spell out the priorities clearly has meant that nearly every minister of fisheries in recent history has ended up being taken to court by the industry. The fuzziness around priorities has been a field day for lawyers.

If we decide that our priorities surrounding sustainability of our fisheries are important to us, then parliament should make that policy very clear in the law. The risk of extinction is not a risk we should take by mumbling obfuscation in the statute. Therefore the act needs to make protection from extinction explicit and not leave it to interpretation by the Courts.

This point is obscured by the case a lot of people seem to make that marine mammals should enjoy absolute protection.

Instead we should focus on protecting a mammal from extinction. This is much more clear cut than shielding a species from any potential harm at all.

No-one wants dolphins to be caught and killed and we can pass various rules about fishing practice that ensures that we minimise the dolphin by-catch. It’s reasonable to have a debate about the balance between those rules and the need to enjoy our ocean resource.

It is not reasonable to simplify the issue to a choice between utilisation of the resource on the one hand, or the complete extinction of a species on the other. Not all mammals need absolute protection.

Let me give you the example of sea lions on Auckland Island. I know there are a range of views on the sea lions, and I didn’t have any advice that they were endangered. I became very familiar with these sea lions, because for much of my term as fishing minister, I received postcards from cute little baby sea lions, that read “Dear Jim, please don’t kill my mother”!

I can tell you definitively - my receptionist received no item of correspondence more frequently each morning than these heart-felt pleas, many of them from school children insisting it would be heartless, matricide were I to authorise the slaughter of these defenceless mothers.

I’m sure these postcards were great revenue raisers for sections of the conversation movement, and for NZ Post! I have no doubt the donations poured in. I am a little more doubtful that the recipients of these generous donations were making it clear that the sea lion population in this area was not endangered; in fact it was growing satisfactorily.

On the other hand, the fishing industry does itself few favours. When I was minister we put observers on 4% of all fishing boats. That’s one out of every twenty-five fishing boats. What a coincidence it is that 100% of all reported by-catch of birds, seals or dolphins occurs only on these boats with the observers aboard!

No-one ever reports catching a dolphin, a sea lion, an albatross or any other protected species when they don’t have an observer on-board. Perhaps the fishing industry has a point and these observers are the real threat to endangered species.

Or perhaps there’s another explanation. We’re left today with a situation where the law does not clearly support the sustainability of our fisheries.

The industry should take a good hard look at itself before it takes another minister to court. Because a fish in the sea is a fish in the bank. Many fish are long lived, and if not they are generally prolific breeders. We all benefit from a cautious approach.

My story with the Maui and Hector's dolphins is a good example of why the Fisheries Act continues to need changing. The requirement for the minister to keep allowing fishing to continue until he or she can PROVE beyond doubt that the environment or an entire species is in peril - must go.

We all know that the information gathered about the state of fish stocks is rough and anecdotal, as it was when we were trying to establish exactly how many hector dolphins remain.

The industry pays for much of the research, and it should think twice before it continues to insist that we spend more money on gathering yet more information. If they give us no choice, we might just have to do that.

A minister must be able to take a precautionary position and decide to lean towards the protection of a species where there is a risk. It is our parliamentary obligation to do so.

A judge, as an interpreter of the law, should not be expected to choose between sustainability and utilisation. Sustainability should, in law, be our most important objective in fisheries management. If our fish stocks become unsustainable there will be no fish for the industry - or anyone else - to catch.

This must surely change, and I will continue to fight for that change.

Dolphin and young girl connect!

2009-07-31T22:58:00.001-05:00

The connection between a young girl in Texas and a dolphin in Florida is inspiring that young girl to triumph over her disability.

From the time they met, it was love at first sight.

"I thought since she just loves me and I love her, we could talk to each other often and see each other," said McKenna McGough.

It is an unlikely source of encouragement for a girl who always felt different.

"Lots of my friends didn't have hearing aids, and it made me feel really uncomfortable about it," said McKenna.

Born hearing impaired, McKenna was always embarrased to wear her hearing aid or to talk with others about her condition.

Just two years ago is when a trip down to Clearwater, Fla. changed her whole world.

"It did surprise me how she was just relaxed and just loving on me," said McKenna.

There, she said she found strength in a little dolphin that could, named Winter. The dolphin was rendered tail-less after an accident.

"She's not so shy to show her stump, so why should I be shy to show my hearing aid," McKenna.

"It was a big blessing because after we saw her for the first time, McKenna started wearing her hearing aid," said McKenna's mother. "She started talking to people openly about what was wrong."

After McKenna met Winter, she wanted to know everything about the dolphin, much of which she learned in a little book. She even said she wants to be Winter's trainer when she grows up.

"I want to give back to Winter because of all the things she's done to help me," said McKenna.

That meant going without on her birthday so that Winter could have.

"She invited all of her friends and said, 'You know, just bring money or make a donation to the aquarium for me so that I can do presents for Winter,'" said McKenna's mother.

For McKenna, it was the least she could do, and she said it was a way to thank Winter for everything the dolphin did for her.

"She's helped me in not being afraid to be different," said McKenna.

McKenna has been able to see Winter six times in the last two years and said she looks forward to many more visits.

She's even had a chance to watch Winter's trainers fit the dolphin with a prosthetic tail.

"The Cove" the best place to learn about dolphins

2009-07-31T20:19:00.002-05:00

The extraordinary documentary The Cove is a celebration of dolphins and a damnation of Japanese policies and indifference that allow the unconscionable slaughter of these exceptional animals and the proliferation of mercury poisoning in humans who are tricked into eating toxic dolphin meat disguised as whale meat.

Amongst other environmentally related themes, The Cove is specifically about the horrific slaying of dolphins in the small, picturesque tourist hub of Taiji, in the southern part of the Japanese archipelago. Its grim theme aside, the film is immensely entertaining—a kind of eco-adventure thriller—and is sure to be regarded as one of the most important films of 2009.
The Cove also looms as one of the major commercial successes for the documentary genre this year. Suggesting a strong critical response, the film has already won a slew of audience awards at festivals like Sundance, Seattle, HotDocs, Toronto, Sydney, Nantucket, Silverdocs, Newport and, just recently, the Maui Film Festival.

With Roadside Attractions handling the theatrical release, Lionsgate the DVD and Participant Media overseeing the social-action aspects, The Cove will reel in audiences and not a little controversy. But director Louie Psihoyos and the Cove team are most hopeful that the film will heighten awareness of the tragic plight of the dolphins in Taiji specifically and, globally, as captives for amusement shows and as examples of the overall depletion of fish stock in the world’s oceans.

Psihoyos’ journey to the project was the result of personal concerns, skills, friends in good places, dogged journalistic curiosity, and an adventurer’s thirst for the chase that led to the first-ever filming of the ritual dolphin slaughter in Taiji’s once ultra-secret cove.
Also noteworthy is that Psihoyos, a celebrated still photographer, makes his directorial debut with the film. “I had never made a film before but took a three-day crash course in filmmaking a few years ago with a local filmmaker in Boulder. I learned on a prosumer HD camera and then we graduated to Sony HD.”

Prior to undertaking The Cove, Psihoyos had made his reputation as one of the top still photographers in the world. Hired directly out of college to shoot for National Geographic, he spent 18 years with the iconic yellow-bordered, nature and location-focused magazine.

Continuing in the “still life,” he has been under contract with Fortune magazine and shot hundreds of covers for other magazines including Smithsonian, Discover, GEO, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, New York, Sports Illustrated and Rock and Ice. His work has also been seen on The Discovery Channel, National Geographic Television and The History Channel. And museums and private collectors around the world collect his photography.

But while his early years with National Geographic hooked him on geographic and environmental concerns, it was Psihoyos’ love of diving and diving photography that afforded a lens on what was happening to the world’s waters—the planet’s crucial resource.

In 2005, when the urge to motivate change really hit, he created the non-profit organization The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) with tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Jim Clark as a way of affording the public and media a window into the beauty as well as the destruction of the oceans.

The Cove, the inaugural OPS film project, is an unabashed celebration of dolphins, highly sentient and highly intelligent mammals, famously exploited for entertainment in the worldwide TV show “Flipper” and now, as captives, in amusement and theme parks worldwide. But it’s their routine luring, trapping and slaughter in Taiji that is the film’s central concern.
The Taiji authorities have worked hard and ruthlessly to keep what goes on in the cove a secret. After all, dolphins caught that are suitable for shows can bring as much as $150,000 each. Unlucky ones that are slaughtered can earn their killer fishermen from $600 to $1,000 each.

Psihoyos learned of the awful ritual from former “Flipper” producer turned dolphin activist Ric O’Barry after seeking him out at a San Diego convention. Psihoyos was hoping to catch O’Barry as the advertised keynote speaker, but convention sponsor Sea World ultimately banned O’Barry because he is so vocal against their captivity.
Disappointed by his non-appearance, Psihoyos made a blind call to O’Barry. Recalling the conversation, Psihoyos says that “I couldn’t imagine any civilization killing dolphins, so Richard invited me along the following week to see the little town with the big secret.” Clark also joined up.

The eponymous cove is off-limits to outsiders, yet, paradoxically, is located in the center of Taiji. In spite of its location, it is carefully guarded and cut off from the public.
Another paradox is that Taiji, with so many dolphin monuments and statues, pretends to celebrate the species. Observes Psihoyos, “Our first impression was that the town is right out of a Stephen King novel. Outwardly the town is about reverence and respect and love of dolphins and whales, but what was happening in the secret cove told a horror story that I was determined to get.”

What Psihoyos saw was that outsiders were not permitted to see. It was then that the idea struck to try to infiltrate the cove and film what had eluded others like the BBC and Time magazine. Thus, thanks to O’Barry’s invitation, the big adventure—and the Cove movie—began.

O’Barry, who figures prominently in the doc, explains that he spent ten years as dolphin trainer for the “Flipper” show before going to the other side where, for 38 years, he has been active on behalf of dolphins, campaigning tirelessly against their captivity and extolling the virtues of these amazing yet sadly endangered creatures.

The Cove makes clear that beyond the dolphins’ high intelligence, deep emotional capabilities and preternatural physical dexterity as exemplified by their huge leaps and swimming speed, they are the only wild animals known to come to the rescue of humans. They are also highly communicative and their sonar capabilities—their unique ability to hear and detect—are unique.

But The Cove is hardly just a nature piece extolling the dolphins. What makes it the entertainment powerhouse it is and gives the film its structure and momentum is the adventure surrounding the filmmaking team’s infiltration of the Taiji cove so that the unconscionable slaughter can be filmed for the first time and shown to the world.

This “mission” to get past the Taiji perps—local government, police, guards and the bullying, murdering fishermen—has aspects of Ocean’s Eleven and even Man on Wire. Says Psihoyos, “We had the same variety of characters as Ocean’s Eleven, the same crazies, techies, millionaires, etc., but a very different model because we are on the documentary side. It wasn’t just about getting into the cove. We are a vehicle for change, for informing people about what’s going on there and in the oceans. It was about our struggle to get footage to put all this across.”

Besides the plight of the dolphins regularly trapped and slaughtered in the cove, the film addresses other themes, including growing mercury content in food and the mounting danger of mercury poisoning in humans, depletion of the oceans, the failings of the International Whaling Commission, the tragedy of whale hunting, and the Japanese government’s cover-up and promotion of toxic dolphin meat as edible.

But the main focus is on the stealth filming in Taiji. Notes Psihoyos, “About 23,000 a year were killed [at the cove] until recently. Now it’s less only because there are fewer dolphins as a result of the slaughters. The Japanese government is going through dolphin stock like they’re going through whaling stock.”

He provides some insight into Japanese thinking: “The Japanese cannot rely so much on land for their food, so they look to the oceans, to the sea, for their nourishment and the government promotes the notion that the oceans are sustainable, which they are not. I did have an interesting encounter on a long plane ride when I met by chance the guy in Japan in charge of all slaughter of dolphins and whales. He’s aware of the horror that is happening, but he’s worried about food security for his country.”

For The Cove, the “overriding, first achievable goal,” he says, would be to shut down the infamous cove and its activities. “This won’t happen because the government is offended by the slaughter,” he says, “but that it realizes the very real danger of mercury poisoning and the harm it is doing in promoting and serving toxic meat to consumers. A second goal with the film is to make people think twice about going to an animal park where these beautiful, sentient animals are trained to do stupid tricks.”

As a documentary and one fraught with so many important themes, The Cove hardly suggests the term “buddy movie,” but Psihoyos’ buddies were instrumental in making the film possible.

For years, Cove executive producer and entrepreneur and venture capitalist Jim Clark, perhaps best known as the force behind Silicon Graphics, Netscape and WebMD, has been Psihoyos’ diving “buddy.” Explains Psihoyos, “As divers, we’ve together seen the degradation of oceans. Jim thought up the idea of starting OPS, which was founded and now headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, as both an organization and studio. Asked about addressing oceanic concerns at a landlocked home base and film studio, Psihoyos jokes, “We’re conveniently located between two oceans.”

Clark was with Psihoyos when he first went to Taiji with Ric O’Barry and, most importantly, agreed to get on board and provide the initial funding when the idea struck Psihoyos to do the film.

Charles Hambleton, Psihoyos’ clandestine-operations director and first assistant on the film, is his “best buddy.” On a subsequent trip to Taiji after it was decided to make a film, “he and I went to the Taiji mayor’s office for cooperation. They told us ‘No’ and were kind of threatening us. We feared we’d come away empty-handed like everyone else who has tried to film the cove. So it was Charles’ idea to bring in the military-grade thermal camera that was rigged for shooting video.”

Other “buddies” on the film include actor/director/producer Fisher Stevens, producer of The Cove who is a diver and knew Clark and Psihoyos, and Boulder native Paula DuPré Pesmen, the other Cove producer, who worked on many big Hollywood projects before joining OPS. Psihoyos describes Stevens as “the closer” because he brought in the finishing team for the film and Pesmen “the pitcher,” because “she made sure we were being economically responsible.”
But quick to credit the entire Cove team, including writer Mark Monroe, editor Geoffrey Richman and composer J. Ralph, Psihoyos says, “Everyone was instrumental. As John Ford is reputed to have said, ‘Making a film is like painting a picture with an army.’”

Participant Media came on board after its entrepreneur founder Jeff Skoll saw a screening at “buddy” Norman Lear’s house a month after the film’s Sundance premiere.

Like the best of “buddy” films and in spite of its serious subject matter, The Cove is powerful entertainment. The concerns are contemporary and immediate, but much of its style is inspired by the best in filmmaking tradition.

O’Barry and the many dolphins seen, including archival material of those used in the “Flipper” series, are among the film’s most memorable heroes. The villains are equally vivid, whether they are the brutal, aggressive Taiji fishermen involved in the killings, the conspiring authorities or the International Whaling Commission lawyer Dan Goodman, a seemingly toady mouthpiece for IWC interests. About Goodman, Psihoyos comments, “What a spin doctor! He’s out of central casting.”

But Psihoyos is careful to note that the IWC isn’t all bad. “They are half and half, both good guys and evil.”

Also in the traditional vein, The Cove is the story of a journey, really two journeys. One is that of O’Barry, who is prominently onscreen in the archival footage from his decade with “Flipper” to his reborn, 38 years as an activist fighting dolphin captivity and working for their welfare.

But the film’s biggest journey is that of Psihoyos’ team, who successfully plan and execute their nighttime “Mission: Important.” Ingeniously and with great difficulty, the team enabled the first footage of the cove activity. They included several top free-divers who helped set up the underwater cameras and hydrophones, and special-effects wizards at Kerner Optical/Industrial Light & Magic, who built rock casings to hide cameras.

The cameras, which were also crucial to keeping the team from getting arrested, included state-of-the-art, military-grade thermal cameras for night viewing and gyro-stabilized cameras for the aerial footage from helicopters. Psihoyos calls the thermal cameras “most interesting because they gave us the security of knowing where the guards and police were.” The thermal footage is black-and-white, whereas the more conventional night-vision camera delivered green-tinted material. Psihoyos explains the difference between these cameras, which both capture footage in the dark: “The regular night-vision camera uses a different spectrum of wavelength of light, while the thermal uses heat.”

“The police,” recalls Psihoyos, “were constantly on the hunt for us,” but on the all-crucial night of the shoot, he and covert-operations director Hambleton, in what was one of the filmmaker’s scariest moments, managed to escape them by driving through a tiny mountain road.

The Cove doesn’t just generate solid entertainment and crucial awareness of critical issues. It also provokes questions like: Might the final bloody scene of the dolphin slaughter be too tough for many viewers who are too young or already so sensitive to human abuse of helpless animals?

Psihoyos reminds that the film is rated PG-13. “We could have made it unwatchable,” he says, “but some of the sequences of the killing are beautiful in a horrific way—so strange and surreal, like a Bosch painting.”

Other questions arise. When, for instance, will The Cove be shown in Japan? Psihoyos says the film is being considered for the Tokyo Film Festival but notes that the director of the festival just wrote to say that the event is controlled by the government. The filmmaker is also working with filmmaker/producer/distributor Luc Besson, who picked the film up for France and has distribution partners in Japan that he’s showing the movie to. Says Psihoyos, “One way or another, we’ll get it shown in Japan.”

The director is quick to point out that the general population of Japan appears to be ignorant of what is going on with the dolphins. “The Japanese we show the film to are shocked and embarrassed. And we’ve done about 100 random interviews with people about the slaughter and no one seems to know what is going on.”

But what is going on in Taiji these days? “They’re getting very nervous,” Psihoyos reports. “It’s now even harder to penetrate the cove because there are taller fences and more security.”

And what about the mercury poisoning from eating toxic fish (dolphins especially) that has already felled the Japanese village of Minimata? Psihoyos knows something about this because he too has some degree of poisoning. It has shown up in his blood and he also has the symptomatic hearing loss.

“What’s interesting,” he says, “is that from so many long conversations we recorded [surreptitiously] with the Taiji fishermen, it’s obvious that they are riddled with mercury themselves. Their brains are addled and their perceptions very much affected. They are villains and very ignorant and we’re not going to win over them or the other Japanese on any animal-rights issue. But we can win on the toxic-meat issue because that is very, very real. The Mayor of Taiji recently mandated that everyone in the town get tested for mercury poisoning, but the town has not released the results.”

With its first project, if not the issues, behind it, Psihoyos and Clark’s Oceanic Preservation Society is looking at several other projects in the works, the first being about how ocean reefs are disappearing. Psihoyos states, “There have been five major extinctions and reef extinction is the sixth.”

But for now, all eyes will be on The Cove, set to begin its run July 31 in Los Angeles and New York. With the release, many will be thinking more and more about the plight of dolphins and, for better or worse, may be giving second thoughts to our Japanese friends, casual and intimate and in low and high places. By virtue of geography and the painful facts presented in The Cove, they are the ones who must begin exacting the change so desperately needed, whether by speaking out or helping to change their country’s evil, harmful policies.

Paris Hilton swims with dolphins in Dubai!

2009-07-09T23:42:00.000-05:00

She may be in Dubai to find herself a 'new best friend forever' but it seems Paris Hilton is having plenty of fun on her own.

The Hollywood socialite has only been in the country a week yet already she has fitted in a clutch of once-in-a-lifetime activities.

She has posted photos on her Twitter page of herself enjoying a camel ride, going skiing on a huge indoor mountain and swimming with dolphins.

Dubai is huge! Paris Hilton swam with dolphins in Dubai and posted the picture on her Twitter page

Bored dolphins playing sharks volleyball?

2009-07-04T16:53:00.002-05:00

When dolphins tire of manmade toys, they have no problem with using baby sharks as a volleyball, officials at a Florida research center said.

The activity triggers a scramble for staff to rescue the sharks at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, 58 miles north of Key West, Media Relations Coordinator Mary Stella told UPI on a recent visit.

The center has 90,000 square feet of lagoons on the Gulf of Mexico. Staff developed a plastic mesh that is used as fencing to keep the center's 19 resident dolphins in and other larger species such as predator sharks out, Stella said. She said occasionally, baby nurse sharks find their way into the lagoons and staff have to rescue them from the dolphins.

The center was home to the five dolphins that shared the lead role in the 1963 hit film "Flipper," and now has several third-generation offspring of the stars. It's also home to Theresa, who is more than 50 years old, a U.S. Navy "employee" until 1968 with a classified background, Stella said. She said the center's staff also assists in manatee rescues but has no permanent facility for them.

The center offers an assortment of "dolphin experiences" for visitors, including 20-minute, waist-deep, in-water visits in which a trainer works the mammals through routines such as a flipper-shakes, flipper-splashing and pairs towing visitors who hold onto dorsal fins.

There are also programs offering daylong courses in training and managing dolphins, marine research and special needs programs for the disabled.

During a recent visit, spectators watching small groups of visitors enter the lagoon area remarked to UPI that "as soon as people see dolphins, they smile." Indeed, the animals appeared healthy and happy and could be seen frolicking on their own without a trainer's instructions. Visitors who touched the dolphins described the feeling as being like "wet hot dogs" or "wet suede."

However, such facilities have their enemies, the biggest being the Humane Society of the United States.

In 1996, Naomi Rose, HSUS marine mammal scientist in Washington told UPI the society "strongly disapproves" of any swim with dolphin programs.

"I'm not denying there's probably therapeutic value to interacting with these animals but there's also therapeutic value in interaction with puppies, kittens, goats and sheep," Rose said.

The society's Web site takes a more aggressive stance against marine facilities.

"Experience has proven that public display does not effectively educate the public and that profit is the main motive for conducting traumatic and stressful captures," the site says.

The DRC's Stella acknowledged the criticism and said there remain some questionable facilities in the United States and elsewhere. She pointed out, however, the center is not-for-profit and quoted the mission statement: "The health and well-being of DRC's dolphins hold absolute precedence over all other interests."

She denied claims that dolphins must perform to be fed, saying the center goes through some 300 pounds of fresh fish each day, with vitamins and antibiotics added when needed.

"We ask dolphins to participate -- we don't force," she said. "The truth of the matter is, you cannot make a dolphin do anything it doesn't choose to do."

Stella said the "Flipper" movie was integral in her personal career choice. The New Jersey native said after seeing the movie as a child, her parents brought her to the center in the 1960s and her passion for dolphins began. She said the 70 largely part-time staff and 20 volunteers often spend far more hours at the site than scheduled, and as with the visitors, UPI observed near-permanent smiles on workers' faces.

Two dolphin species gain state recognition

2009-06-14T20:37:00.001-05:00

And the winner of the battle between the North Atlantic right whale and the bottlenose dolphin is ... Alice Drive Elementary School.

It was the efforts of Alice Drive students that ultimately led to the passage of legislation recognizing three official state animals — the bottlenose dolphin as the state marine mammal, the Northern right whale as the state migratory marine mammal and the wood duck, also known as the summer duck, as the state duck.

“It was because of our efforts that two mammals got recognized,” said Lynn Eldridge, the art teacher at Alice Drive who started the schoolwide project on the Northern right whale. “If it wasn’t for us, bottlenose dolphins wouldn’t have gotten recognized. Now, they both are.”

All they were originally after was recognizing one, the Northern right whale, which has been known to give birth to calves off the South Carolina coast as it migrates from its summer home of New England to its winter home of Florida.

“I was completely impressed with what all the young folks at Alice Drive had done and all the effort put into it by the principal, Mrs. (Lynn) Eldridge and others,” said Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, who sponsored the original bill that would have recognized the Northern right whale as the state marine mammal and who helped forge the compromise in the last couple of days of the legislative session.

“We all know the reason that teachers do that is to give students something to identify with and, hopefully, get them involved in the learning process,” he continued. “She certainly did a great job with that.”

The students found out about the compromise Wednesday morning. Principal Debbie Thomas made sure to include in the daily announcements that the bill became law without Gov. Mark Sanford’s signature.

For the most part, they were happy with the outcome. But some students said the bottlenose dolphin doesn’t deserve the recognition because it is not endangered, and it pales in size and majesty to the Northern right whale.

“I was disappointed we had to split with the bottlenose dolphin because we started the whole thing with the right whale,” said David Cooper, 10, a fourth-grader. “We put a whole lot of work into it, and (the bottlenose dolphin supporters) came in halfway through it.”

It all started as a desire on the part of art teacher Lynn Eldridge to decorate a large wall in the cafeteria. It evolved into a schoolwide project in which students of all grade levels learned about the Northern right whale and other South Carolina symbols. Leventis agreed to sponsor the legislation after visiting the school in December and being impressed with the students’ work.

They came up not only with murals of whales, and facts about them, on school walls, but also a song and dance.

Leventis introduced the bill Jan. 14. But two weeks later, Sen. George E. “Chip” Campsen III, R-Charleston, introduced a rival bill to name the bottlenose dolphin as the state marine mammal. Both measures ended up languishing in committee throughout the legislative session.

Then, in the final week, Leventis noticed a bill that would name the wood duck the official state duck. He approached Campsen about adding amendments to that measure that would recognize both mammals. After some negotiation, they came to the compromise, and the amendments were included on the bill that was approved by both the House and Senate on May 21, the last day of the session.

Campsen said Wednesday he was satisfied with the compromise, but he wanted to make clear his motives. Leventis had theorized that the South Carolina Ports Authority was behind the bottlenose dolphin drive because in its view, naming the Northern right whale as the state’s official marine mammal would hurt business. The authority has opposed federal regulations passed in December requiring ships not to approach a Northern right whale any closer than 500 feet except in limited circumstances.

“Everyone who thinks I’m a stooge of the Ports Authority ought to look at my opposition to rail access on the northern end of the port,” Campsen said. “This purely flows from my lifetime of passionate experience in our marine ecosystem. I hunt in it, surf in it, have spent my whole life in it. I just felt like we should have something more endemic to the area as the state marine mammal. ... And the whale really is a migratory mammal.”

In the end, the students said they learned a lot about the legislative process and the need to be persistent.

“If you want something, you’ve got to keep going,” said fifth-grader Christian Hithe, 11.

Contact Staff Writer Jason Wermers at jwermers@theitem.com or (803) 774-1295.

Stop Risso's dolphins' slaughter!

2009-05-24T16:01:00.001-05:00

In March 09 it was reported that the people of the Feroe Island in Denmark were caught slaughtering many Risso's Dolphins in celebration of their toughness. Risso's Dolphins are of friendly nature, and trust only humans, therefore when they get close to shore, they are caught in nets and slughtered. Tell Anders Fogh Rasmussen to say no to this, and stop these rapid and heartless killings at once.

Experts learn a lot from rare dolphin specie

2009-04-19T17:23:00.001-05:00

A preliminary study on Australia’s mysterious snubfin dolphin has given researchers new insight into the mammal’s habits and behaviour, including that it uses an extraordinary spitting technique to catch prey.

The research, funded by ING DIRECT, has given an overview of the life and habits of this very rare marine mammal, affectionately named ‘snubby’ by researchers, which lives in tight-knit social groups along the northern coastlines of Australia.

The small dolphins hunt in groups and use a spitting technique to catch their prey - chasing fish to the surface of the water, and rounding them up by shooting jets of water from their mouths, said WWF-Australia’s Marine and Coasts Manager Lydia Gibson.

“This is incredibly unusual behaviour, first seen in Australia off the Kimberley Coast, has only been noted before in Irrawaddy dolphins, which are closely related to this species,” Gibson said. “It also confirms the snubfin dolphin is a fascinating animal, one which we know so little about.”

Gibson said the WWF/ING DIRECT research has been collating existing information from many sightings over the years while also gathering new valuable data about snubfin habitats across northern Australia.

The ten key findings from the research so far show that:

• Threats to mangrove systems from rising sea levels predicted with climate change and from human impacts such as dam construction, dredging and other destructive activities are the greatest threat to the snubfin. Where mangrove systems are destroyed or damaged, the snubfins will lose their food and their habitat/home.

• Snubfins are very susceptible to chemical pollution, viruses and bacteria because they live close to shore and have a relatively small range. A parasite found in cat faeces (Toxoplasma gondii) is of particular concern, as it was found - via contaminated run-off - to be the cause of death of three Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins recovered around Townsville in the period 2000-2001.

• Snubfin dolphins are more likely than other dolphins to be caught in gill nets because they prefer inshore estuarine habitats where river-nets are set.

• Snubfin families appear to spend much of their lives in very small territories close to shore. This means snubfin populations can be heavily impacted by habitat destruction and unsustainable development.

“These top ten facts were uncovered to better understand what we do and do not know about the snubfin dolphin. They will provide us with the benchmark we need to inform conservationists, government and scientists about how best to conserve and manage this unique and threatened species for future generations.”

Ms Gibson said that habitat destruction was the key threat to these coastal dolphins.

“There are already development proposals around the Great Barrier Reef that could affect their habitat – like the extension of the Townsville Port – that could have major impacts on these species. We must work with all relevant stakeholders to initiate a strategic environment assessment of future developments close to snubfin habitats.”

Australia’s largest online bank, ING DIRECT, joined WWF-Australia’s flagship species conservation program to help fund research into the snubfin dolphin, primarily in Queensland.

“We are even more proud now that we have been able to help researchers uncover a range of remarkable facts and insights that may help preserve this remarkable creature long into the future,” said Christian Bohlke, ING DIRECT Head of Branding and Communications.

ING DIRECT’s funded research has not only given insights into the, until now, secret lives of these dolphins, it has also revealed the threats they face from man.

“This overview sets the stage for the ongoing research needed to help us discover ways to minimise our impact on these unique Australian creatures. Companies like ING DIRECT that fund this research are helping us preserve an extraordinary creature and are building a legacy that will be enjoyed by Australians for generations to come,” Bohlke said.

About 80 whales and Bottlenose dolphins beached themselves

2009-04-01T22:24:00.002-05:00

Whales lie along a stretch of beach in WA's South-West following a mass beaching. Photo: Tim Brown, www.aerophoto.com.au

A new fear has surfaced around a pod of whales stranded on a WA beach, with several dead whales washing up this morning with bite marks.

The Department of Environment and Conservation has warned rescue volunteers who have rushed to the area - who are already battling rough seas and strong rips - to stay out of the water, amid fears the dead mammals have attracted sharks.

Around 80 whales, thought to have been false killer whales, now identified as long-finned pilot whales, are stranded along the coastline of Hamelin Bay, WA.

The Augusta-Margaret River Mail reports rescuers are attempting to release 11 surviving long-finned pilot whales into Flinders Bay in South-West WA this morning after about 80 whales and bottlenose dolphins beached themselves over six kilometres of coast at Hamelin Bay, south of Margaret River, yesterday.

About 55 were found dead yesterday and 14 died overnight, leaving 11 survivors including a mother and baby.

Another nine whales washed up dead at Hamelin Bay this morning, with some showing bite marks.

About 100 people hurried to the site yesterday, including volunteers, Department of Environment and Conservation crew, police, vets and scientists.

The whales were in varying states of injury and stress, and it was decided to move them by truck to the calmer conditions of Flinders Bay to release them together in a pod.

The whales, originally thought to have been false killer whales, were identified and confirmed as long-finned pilot whales by DEC marine mammal specialist Doug Coughran, when he arrived at the site yesterday afternoon.

Both species are very similar in colouring and identification characteristics.

Laura Sinclair of the DEC information services unit said there had been some difficulty accessing some whales in a rocky area.

Carcass disposal operations using trucks filled with wet sand and foam mattresses have also begun to remove the dead whales from the beach.

Sergeant Andy Allison of Augusta police attended Hamelin Bay yesterday to conduct traffic management and crowd control.

He reported some verbal abuse towards DEC and Augusta-Margaret River Shire staff who had closed the access to the beach except to volunteers with the required equipment, such as boots to cope with cold night conditions in the water.

"People need to look at the bigger picture," he said.

Flinders Bay access was also shut down so the rescue operations could be carried out more easily.

Between 1984 and 2005 there were 21 mass strandings of whales and dolphins along the coast of WA, mostly between Busselton and Augusta.

In April 2005, 19 Long-Finned Pilot Whales were stranded in Busselton, while in June 2005, followed by 123 False Killer Whales stranded in the same area.

In 1986 a rescue of false killer whales in Augusta made world news.

Of a school of 114 whales, 96 survived and were returned safely back into the ocean.

Augusta-Margaret River Mail

Rare pink Bottlenose dolphin!

2009-03-07T19:04:00.001-06:00

Rare ... pink dolphin in Louisiana

THIS is a flipping stunning picture of the worlds only PINK Bottlenose dolphin.

The dolphin, which is an albino, is the odd one out within its pod and after being spotted last year has been wowing visitors at a lake in Louisiana, US.

The mesmerising mammal was photographed making a splash by local charter boatman Captain Erik Rue, 42.

Cpt Rue has been studying the dolphin since it first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico.

He said: I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

It was absolutely stunningly pink.

Local men free dolphins trapped by ice

2009-02-28T22:53:00.001-06:00

Three dolphins had been trapped for a week by drift ice in the harbor of Seal Cove, Newfoundland. Residents of the small community appealed to the local department of fisheries and oceans, but received no response.

Four local men finally took their own 16-foot boat, rammed it up on the ice, jumped out and began hacking a channel to the open sea…

“You’d hear them crying, every night,” said one of the men in the boat, Rodney Rice, 39. “I went down there last night and you could hear them trying to break up more ice. . . . They wouldn’t have lasted another day.”

“I had a floater suit on,” said Banks, “And they would come up and rest their head on me and I would keep their head out of the water so they can breathe through their blowhole.”

Are there some similarities between dolphins and humans?

2009-02-28T20:22:00.000-06:00

This is the first installment in a regular column I will be writing for the Gloucester Daily Times.

You may have already seen my name in the Times over the past few months, providing information on seal strandings on Cape Ann. Last fall, we saw an unusually high number of harbor seal strandings on Cape Ann's shores, while currently, we are in the midst of the peak season for harp and hooded seal (ice seals) strandings.

I study seals and other marine mammals inhabiting the Gulf of Maine — humpback whales, North Atlantic right whales, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins, to name a few. In this column, I will share information about these and other inhabitants of the sea. In addition to covering marine topics pertinent to the Gulf of Maine, I will incorporate what I have learned from my wildlife research in other parts of the world such as Africa, Alaska, and New Zealand.

Similar to the evolutionary history of the marine mammals that I study, my own life's "evolution" started on land and has brought me to the sea. Born and raised in the land-locked state of Iowa, my interest in marine biology was originally peaked by taking a high school marine biology course in Des Moines. Two years later, as an undergraduate at Duke University, I was seaside at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C. In Beaufort and later Zanzibar, Tanzania, I literally got my feet wet in the field of marine mammalogy by studying bottlenose dolphin behavior. While marine mammal field research is neither easy nor always "Discovery Channel" spectacular, I was hooked.

After earning my B.S. degree from Duke and working for a few years at a biotechnology company back in Des Moines, the pull of the ocean was too strong to overcome and once again I found myself seaside. This time it was in Texas, where I enrolled in a graduate program at Texas A&M University and was based at the marine biology campus in Galveston. While there are ample marine mammals residing off Texas' coast in the warm, subtropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico, my Master's and Ph.D. research brought me instead to the cool, subpolar waters of Alaska and New Zealand. In Alaska, I sought to understand the behavior of male sea otters in Prince William Sound, while in New Zealand, my quest was to unravel the social lives of dusky dolphins in the Marlborough Sounds.

While much of my research has focused on the mammalian inhabitants of the sea, I have also studied mammalian inhabitants of terra firma such as lemurs, chimpanzees, Colobus monkeys, and even humans. Despite being separated in space and time by millions of years of evolution, terrestrial mammals (especially primates) and marine mammals have more in common than you might expect.

In my next column, I will discuss some of these similarities and what we terrestrially-based humans can learn from marine mammals. In the meantime, please feel free to stop by and tour the Whale Center of New England's Visitor Center at 24 Harbor Loop in Gloucester. You will find a full humpback whale skeleton as well as amazing photos and facts about the whales and other marine mammals with which we share this blue world.

Heidi Pearson is the assistant director and stranding coordinator of the Whale Center of New England, based at harbor Loop in Gloucester.

CITA fight against dolphin parks!

2009-02-28T20:14:00.001-06:00

The Cayman Islands Tourism Association would like to respond to comments published in the press regarding the two captive dolphin parks that have recently opened on Grand Cayman.

Our position has not changed; the CITA has been on record since 2002 as being opposed to these facilities and we have well researched and documented facts that support this position.

Already both captive dolphin attractions have employed many of their standard tactics to convince the public that they are a humane and valuable asset to the community.

Local tourism and marine pioneers have been used to spread their doctrine, the wonderful children of the Lighthouse School invited to play with the animals and small children and families pictured with the ‘smiling’ dolphins. And please don’t be misled about the employment opportunities for Caymanians and the economic value of new jobs; the majority of employees are foreign and that is not going to change any time soon.

There are no adequate facilities for captive dolphins. There are more elaborate and sophisticated ones, but no dolphin parks are suitable as wild dolphins swim hundreds of miles a day and have the whole ocean in which to live in.

They have been recorded to dive to depths of hundreds of feet. They live in a social family pod and nurse, nurture, teach and protect their young. Statistics show that the average life of a dolphin in captivity is seven years vs. 50 years in the wild.

Saying that the facilities in Cayman are world class or provide the best in care is very misleading. It is based on the underlying principal that some captive dolphin facilities are acceptable and it is the CITA’s position that they are not. These are highly intelligent mammals. They do not deserve to be captured, taken from their families, stressed and forced to live the rest of their lives in a swimming pool that is perhaps only 20 feet deep.

Regarding educating the public; yes we understand that both adults and children learn about dolphin behaviour and biology when they swim with these animals. People would probably love to ride a camel or see a wild cat too; however, that does not make it right to capture and incarcerate them here in Cayman.

Of course dolphins are entertaining, but this is something that they are forced to do in order to obtain their food. Dolphins are clever, which is why they are a highly valued commodity; they will exercise their skills in order to survive. If doing tricks is what it takes then they will do them. They are a sentient creature, which means that they have self awareness similar to humans. Surely we should not capture them for our own entertainment.

The CITA has opposed the captive dolphin facilities from long before any permits were granted, development started or animals imported, but we were not listened to.

In August 2008 we asked the Government to place a ban on any future imports of dolphins with a well documented paper on the impacts on capture to the wild dolphin populations. We have had no response to this request. The practice of herding, terrifying, wounding and killing is typical of all dolphin captures.

The Cayman park owners could argue that they purchased their dolphins from other parks, however the other parks will now have to restock their own facilities from the wild, so there can truly be no distinction.

If the developers are correct in their claim that these creatures breed successfully in captivity, there will be no need to import any more. We will stop being a party to the capture of wild dolphins and this is something that we can be proud of.

There is nothing Caymanian, sustainable or indigenous to having captive dolphin facilities in Cayman. We should not be a copycat destination but instead embrace ‘all things Caymanian’.

The CITA strongly supports tourism, including new development and diversification of our existing product. We encourage the growth of new properties, dive sites, restaurants and attractions but the CITA will not support either of the captive dolphin parks.

Will people visit these places? Perhaps, but is it right for the dolphins and our future vision of tourism in the Cayman Islands? That is for you to decide.

Once again, we beseech the Government to seriously consider the implementation of a ban on the future importation of cetaceans, as many other nations have already done.

We need to protect these marine mammals, the environment, the reputation of our tourism product and the culture and heritage of the Cayman Islands. Let your voice on this matter be heard.

You can request email copies of our position papers by emailing info@cita.ky

Dolphin sighted in Channel raises concerns

2009-01-17T21:57:00.000-06:00

She was loping down the levee, halfway through her 10-mile jog, when a little girl standing to the side said:

"There's a dolphin in the Delta!"

Yeah, right, Janet Dial thought, her eyes scanning the Stockton Deep Water Channel.

Bottlenose beauty

Stockton's flippered friend is said to be a bottlenose dolphin, one of the most well-known species of oceanic mammals. Some facts:

• Bottlenose dolphins range in length from 6 to 12 feet; the Stockton dolphin was said by witnesses to be about 5 feet.

• Some populations live just off the Pacific Coast and are commonly seen by wave-riding surfers.
• Dolphins are most often found in groups of two to 15, making it even more puzzling how a single dolphin could end up 90 miles inland.

• Threats include fishing gear like nets and trawls, as well as exposure to pollutants. Dolphins are still harvested in Japan and Taiwan, but are safeguarded in America by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Source: NOAA Fisheries

Then she saw the dorsal fin.

Federal wildlife officials and a rescue group confirmed Wednesday that a bottlenose dolphin has taken up residence - for the past several days, at least - in the brackish channel. It was spotted Saturday off the Brookside levee south of Buckley Cove; it was reportedly seen again Tuesday near the Port of Stockton.

A dolphin might wander this far inland every five to 10 years, one biologist said. Hopefully, that bottlenose soon points back toward the ocean; if not, a rescue may be in order.

"We let them do their thing until it looks like their health is taking a turn for the worse," said Joe Cardaro, a Long Beach-based biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

It's very difficult to herd marine mammals, as experts learned in 2007 when persuading whales Delta and Dawn to forgo their trip up the Sacramento River. Capture with a net is an option for a smaller dolphin, but that could cause undue stress, Cardaro said.

He could offer few clues Wednesday as to what lured the dolphin to Stockton. They usually travel in groups, and it's rare for them to linger even in San Francisco Bay, not to mention 90 miles from sea.

Dial was exhilarated yet concerned after her Saturday sighting. Just when it seemed the dolphin was pointed downstream, a boat would blow past, and he'd change direction.

"He was so confused," Dial said. "It was actually kind of sad. It made me want to jump in there and help."

Walking her dog on the same levee, Susan Filios ran home to get her camera.

"It was exciting to see, at first," she said. "Then you're like, 'Gee, I hope the little guy gets back to salt water.' "

There were no indications that the dolphin was sick, officials said, though one witness said it seemed a bit lethargic, and it certainly wasn't doing any Sea World acrobatics as it came up for air every few minutes.

The Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center, which rescues mostly seals and sea lions, says its volunteers will watch out for the dolphin and its well-being.

"The longer it's in there, the less beneficial it'll be for the animal, but if it's swimming around and full of energy, there's not much you're going to be able to do," Cardaro said.

Considering its location, San Joaquin County seems to have more than its share of marine visitors, but these stories often end sadly. Just last month, a sea lion was struck and killed on Interstate 5 near Lodi; in 2007, a sea lion named Happy died after waddling into a cow shed at a Banta dairy.

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com.

Clarence River, a favourite area for Bottlenose dolphins

2008-12-30T20:49:00.001-06:00

BOTTLENOSE dolphins prefer the Clarence River to other rivers in the region because it has cleaner water, new research shows.

Christine Fury, a researcher with Southern Cross University's Whale Research Centre, has been studying local estuarine dolphins for three years and uncovered some fascinating facts.

She found the Clarence River is the number one choice of home for the dolphins, while the Richmond River, which runs through Ballina, is the second most popular.

She estimated that 71 dolphins usually live in the Clarence River, compared with about 34 in the Richmond River.

"The Clarence River is the most popular because it is the largest estuarine river system in NSW and therefore has a greater volume of water," she said.

"It also has less urban and agricultural development. Both these factors mean the water quality is better."

Rockfish Cruises owner Di Jones said she frequently saw bottlenose dolphins, while conducting cruises on the Clarence River.

"We generally do get a few," she said.

"There's a big pod that lives in the Iluka Harbour that seems to travel around."

She said another good spot to see bottlenose dolphins was in the sheltered area beside the breakwater wall at Yamba, but noticed that they tended to scarper when the water was murky after rain.

In conducting the research, Ms Fury said she discovered bottlenose dolphins' favourite fish was mullet, followed by whiting.

She also discovered that, like humans, dolphins have distinct personalities, with the more gregarious and inquisitive dolphins having the best chance of long-term survival.

Freedom eluding dolphins!

2008-12-29T16:22:00.000-06:00

Does anyone else recognize the irony of a wall of stones separating the dolphins from their home of the open ocean? They are just mere feet away from freedom...

If they were truly happy being captive and pulling swimmers around, there would be no need for the wall of stones.

If they were truly happy being captive interacting with the paying public, there would be no need for food reinforcements.

If the dolphins were truly happy, there would be no need for the trainers to give them stimulation and activity as the article states.

The dolphins stay there because they’ve been traumatized by the capture, being transported and subjected to long periods of gravity and the withholding of food, all of which are concepts completely foreign to their very nature. The fact is that the dolphins are bored and stressed because they are captive, which leads to illnesses, sometimes life–threatening, and maladaptive and aberrant behaviors, both of which can be dangerous to the paying swimmers and to the dolphins.

These facts that I allude to are well documented in the Marine Mammal Inventory Report that is readily available to anyone for the asking from APHIS in the US. Ulcers, aggressive behaviors toward other dolphins resulting in injuries, head banging on the side of the tank are but a few of the aberrant behaviors found only in captive dolphins. See www.dolphinproject.org for a comprehensive list.

Captivity violates a dolphin’s most fundamental requirements, regardless of whether the dolphin was wild–caught or captive born and this is true whether the dolphin is in a tank or a natural lagoon.
If the public stopped buying the tickets, the captive facilities would close.

Dolphins are natural heroes!

2008-12-21T23:44:00.000-06:00

He needed a miracle to survive the cold and choppy waters, and he got it in the form of dolphins and whales.

Tuna fisherman Ronnie Dabal was fishing in Puerto Princesa Bay early on Dec. 8 when a squall turned his small, motorized boat upside down. It was about 8 a.m.

He clambered atop a small Styrofoam board and battled the punishing waves for hours, growing desperate as the day wore on. How could he imagine then that he would survive in the most astonishing manner?

Dabal, 35, spoke with the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Dec. 9 in the company of his wife and representatives of nongovernmental organizations who authenticated his story.

“I began to pray when I felt my strength draining away. I couldn’t continue paddling with my hands because I was getting so tired, and I was about to pass out,” he said.

The fisherman recalled floating at sea all that Monday, paddling against the tide in a vain effort to get to shore, and feeling his arms and legs growing soggy.

Soon, a swarm of tiny crustaceans locally called bugto began nibbling on his softened flesh. “There were so many of them and I couldn’t cope because I was very weak,” he said, showing the bite marks on his limbs. “I started to bleed. I became afraid that sharks would smell my blood and appear at any time.”

To the rescue

Dabal’s hopes of reaching dry land slowly vanished as darkness fell, blanketing him. And then, from out of nowhere, a pod of around 30 dolphins appeared: “Dumating ‘yung mga dolphins. Ang dami nila!” [Dolphins came. There were so many of them!]

A pair of whales about 10 meters long also appeared and flanked him: “Tapos, may lumapit na dalawang balyena. Dun sila sa tigkabilang tabi ko lumalangoy.” [Then, two whales approached. They swam with me, one on each side.]

Dabal, a father of two, swore it was not his mind playing tricks on him as he lay weak and still atop his tiny life raft, which the dolphins alternately nudged with their fins to shore.

As this was happening, the rest of the pod stayed close, around a meter away, apparently trying to make sure no harm would come to him, Dabal said.

He said the whales kept to his side, swimming along with the dolphins.

“Based on his description of the animals, the dolphins were probably spinners and the whales were most likely pilot whales,” Dr. Terry Aquino, a local cetacean specialist, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Saved by his wards

Dabal said he passed out while the dolphins were performing their slow chore of nudging him toward land.

At dawn on Dec. 9, he came to on the beach of Luzviminda village, where the local folk came to his assistance.

Dabal’s unique experience is made more special by the fact that he is a deputized part-time dolphin warden. He was trained by the Palawan NGO Network and ABS-CBN Bantay Kalikasan Foundation, which are helping the city government in promoting dolphin- and whale shark watching as a tourist attraction in Puerto Princesa City.

The foundation’s Dr. Gerry Ortega described Dabal as “a warden and a spotter whom we tap to locate the presence of dolphins whenever there are guests on dolphin-watching tours.

“He is also involved mainly in collecting garbage in the areas frequented by dolphins, to prevent the animals from eating these and being poisoned by the plastics floating around,” Ortega said.
Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn was so elated by Dabal’s experience that he promised to strengthen his administration’s support for the fishing folk who are helping promote dolphin and whale tourism through volunteer work as wardens and spotters.

“Ronnie’s experience is the greatest proof that what we are doing to protect our marine environment is worth all the effort that we are putting into it. I’d like to think this is the animals’ way of also thanking us for helping protect their habitat,” the mayor said.

Social creatures

Aquino said Dabal’s experience occurred in the very area where dolphin-watching tours were being held, and that it was possible that the fisherman’s “saviors” were the same dolphins seen there.

“There are at least three similar incidents that happened here in Palawan. But overall, these phenomena have not been studied, and the accounts are mostly narratives of the survivors,” she said, adding:

“Dolphins are very social creatures and they are known to be intelligent beings. Some scientists even believe they are capable of emotion.”

Aquino said Dabal could have been rescued by spinner dolphins, the type that like to show off their speed and grace in swimming.

In The Know: Dolphins to the rescue

On Oct. 30, 2004, a pod of dolphins saved a group of lifeguards from being mauled by a shark in New Zealand.

According to reports by the New Zealand Herald and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Rob Howes and three women lifeguards (who included his 15-year-old daughter) were on a training swim off Ocean Beach when seven bottlenose dolphins swam toward them and circled them.
When an opening in the circle occurred, Howes and one of the women drifted away from the group. One large dolphin detached itself from the circle and dove a few meters away from them. Howes turned, waiting to see where the dolphin would surface.

That’s when he saw the three-meter-long great white shark. Per Howes’ account, the shark started moving toward the two other women and the dolphins “went into hyperdrive.”

They herded the swimmers together, circling four to eight centimeters from them, and slapping the water with their tails for about 40 minutes. The shark left when a rescue boat neared.

California

A pod of bottlenose dolphins also saved the life of a surfer in California, according to TODAYShow.com.

On Aug. 28, 2007, Todd Endris was sitting on his surfboard at Marina State Park off Monterey when a great white, estimated at four to five meters long, hit him but failed to bite.

On its second try, the shark clamped down on Endris’ torso, peeling the skin off his back. It then tried to swallow his right leg, biting the limb to the bone. Endris used his left leg to kick at the shark until it let go.

That’s when a pod of bottlenose dolphins showed up and circled him, protecting him from further attacks from the shark.Endris got back on his board and caught a wave that brought him back to shore. He was able to surf again after nearly four months.

Marine mammals

Dolphins are marine mammals related to whales and can be found worldwide. They feed on fish, squid, crab, shrimp and lobster.

They are social creatures and tend to form long-lasting groups, which they depend on for hunting, defense and raising their young.

Eliza Victoria, Inquirer Research; with editing by INQUIRER.net

Bottlenose dolphins could be endangered by gas and oil exploration

2008-11-29T22:43:00.000-06:00

The UK Government has agreed to investigate concerns that proposed oil and gas exploration in the Moray Firth threatens bottlenose dolphins.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) said it had received an assurance that potential risks to marine life would be looked into.

In March, the society collected 18,000 signatures and statements from 25 experts opposing development.

The industry has said any work would be sensitive to the environment.

In December 2007, the UK Government announced that it was likely to allow oil and gas development in blocks within the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation as part of a new licensing round.

Sarah Dolman, WDCS head of policy for Scotland, welcomed the government's assurances on investigating the threat to dolphins.

She said: "This is a step in the right direction.

"However, we remain concerned that the government has so far failed to take into account all the possible threats to the dolphins and their collective impact."

The Moray Firth provides habitat for several species of marine mammals.

Porpoise, an animal not seen regularly in the sea around the Kessock Bridge at Inverness for a number of years, was thought to be making a comeback.

Earlier this year, Charlie Phillips, of the WDCS, said porpoise sightings had been reported.
They were most likely preying on sand eels.

Dolphins have a powerful kick

2008-11-29T22:08:00.000-06:00

Think Olympic golden boy Michael Phelps has the most powerful kick in the water?
Well, he's a guppy when compared to dolphins.

Researchers have determined that dolphins use 212 pounds of thrust to propel themselves at more than 20 miles an hour. That's more than triple the thrust that a top Olympic swimmer like Phelps can produce.

Researchers at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy used sophisticated underwater video to measure the power of a dolphin's tail.

RPI engineering professor Tim Wei (way) used the same technique to help U.S. Olympic swimmers get the most from their stroke.

Wei is presenting the findings today in San Antonio at an American Physical Society conference.

On the Net:

RPI: http://www.rpi.edu

Dolphins sighted in the Humber Estuary

2008-11-23T15:23:00.000-06:00

Dolphins and porpoises have been sighted in the Humber estuary.

They were seen by an office worker from his window at Hessle, and the sighting has since been confirmed by an expert.

The dolphins' presence has led to the Sea Watch Foundation in North Ferriby to call for observers to be recruited to look out for more of the creatures.

Local dolphin expert Dr Horace Dobbs said the closure of a nearby smelting works meant there were fewer pollutants in the estuary.

Dr Dobbs added: "It's very exciting to see, we've got everyone looking from experts to ice-cream men.

"The dolphins and harbour porpoises are following fish stocks, which reflects the increase in productivity of the Humber - there are now shoals of bass at the mouth of the estuary."

North Ferriby-based charity International Dolphin Watch has been providing information to workers whose offices overlook the estuary.

It was nearly 200 years ago that the mammals were last seen in the estuary, but they have been increasingly spotted in the past three years.

Two more dolphins deaths!

2008-11-23T15:21:00.000-06:00

A dead dolphin was spotted floating near the Route 36 Highlands bridge early Friday morning and another was seen stranded during the weekend, but officials said the pair were not part of the original pod of bottlenose dolphins visiting the waterways.The bodies were preliminarily identified as short-nose common dolphins, which prefer warm to cool water — 52 to 88 degrees — in the ocean or offshore, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Web site.

Further, short-nose common dolphins tend to travel in large social group of hundreds of individual mammals called “mega-pods,” the Web site said.Workers on the Route 36 bridge, which is currently being replaced by the state Department of Transportation, spotted the first dolphin before 8 Friday morning, NOAA spokeswoman Teri Frady said.The workers immediately reported the incident to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, in Brigantine, which then recovered the body, Frady said.

The second dolphin stranded near the Monmouth Beach section of the Shrewsbury River, MMSC Executive Director Robert Schoelkopf said. “It was in pretty bad shape. It was shivering and malnourished,” Schoelkopf explained, adding that it was euthanized at the scene. No other common dolphins were spotted in the area, according to Schoelkopf.

He noted that animals usually separate from the group because they cannot keep up due to weakness or illness.NOAA was awaiting species confirmation and a necropsy of both mammals as of press time.A change in the condition of the remaining 12 dolphins in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers has not been reported, according to Frady.

Two dolphins of the original pod were found dead during the past few months, and two have gone missing.NOAA is currently monitoring the pod, but has not moved forward with intervention as it awaits specific “triggers” before interfering.

Fresh water dolphins receive help from religious leaders

2008-11-16T22:05:00.001-06:00

Religious leaders and locals of this sleepy town are doing their bit to save the endangered fresh water dolphins found in the river Ganga.

Their efforts are bearing fruits as in the 165 km stretch of the Upper Ganga between Bijnor and Narora, the number of the endangered aquatic species is on the increase. In 1993-94, the number of the dolphins (Platanista gangetica) in this stretch was just 20. However, with the intervention of the community and with help from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) experts, the count has doubled to around 40, including calves. Sandeep Behera, freshwater programme coordinator from WWF calls the efforts an excellent example of community participation in aquatic species conservation. Locals of Karnawas villagers have set up a sewage treatment plant to ensure that dirty water does not pollute the river and in turn wipe-out dolphins, Behera said.

"Atleast 85 families of the village are using this treatment plant. We will soon set up another such plant, again without the help of government," adds 25-year-old Himanshu Sharma, a local and volunteer with WWF. Fishing activities are banned and so is mining. "In fact now farmers have stopped using chemical fertilisers and instead started using eco-friendly manure cow-dung on the agricultural land situated on the banks of the river," Sharma says.

In yet another eco-friendly measure, farmers are being encouraged to set up vermi-composting units. Polythene is collected and then burnt at a safer place lest it choke the river, the activist adds.

U.S. Government blames whales and dolphins for deaths due to sonars

2008-11-15T23:25:00.002-06:00

The United States Supreme Court today ruled in favor of the Navy and against environmentalists in a case arguing that national security permits the use of high powered sonar blasts to detect hostile submarines. The ruling comes despite mounting evidence that the Navy's sonar blasts can kill whales and dolphins.In other words the government is saying that whales and dolphins are unintelligent, unfeeling animals who deserve about as much respect as that cockroach I just nuked with Raid.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion: "The Navy’s need to conduct realistic training with active sonar to respond to the threat posed by enemy submarines plainly outweighs the interests advanced by the plaintiffs."Those interests? That whales are sentient creatures and don't deserve to have their ears blown out.

Even the Navy has admitted that it is dangerous. Following the beaching of seventeen whales and a dolphin in the Bahamas in March 2000 following a sonar exercise, the Navy accepted blame in a Joint Interim Report which found the dead whales experienced acoustically-induced hemorrhages around the ears.And yet, the Navy was so confident they would win before the Supreme Court that they neglected to file an environmental impact report, which is required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

They also called on George Bush (a man of questionable intelligence himself) to exempt them from the law, even though he has no legal standing to do so.So the next time you take the kid to the aquarium make sure you reprimand him: "No Billy, don't be ridiculous. That dolphin is just a stupid animal."

Dead dolphin found in Shrewsbury River

2008-11-15T23:10:00.000-06:00

Another dead dolphin has been discovered, this time in the Shrewsbury River, but it's not a bottlenose dolphin like the ones that have been living there and in the Navesink River since June, officials said Friday.

The dead marine mammal was a common dolphin, an offshore species, said Robert C.

Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

It was found near the construction barge next to the Highlands-Sea Bright bridge, according to Schoelkopf.

It's "very unusual" for a common dolphin to be in the river because it is a deep-sea species, he said.

"We usually don't see 'em," he said. "We get strandings of common (dolphins) along the coast, but not the river like that."

An estimated 16 bottlenose dolphins swam from the ocean and Sandy Hook Bay into the Shrewsbury River in June and then headed for the Navesink River in July. Two of the dolphins recently were found dead in the Navesink, two are unaccounted for and the rest are spending time in both rivers, according to federal officials.

"This morning's news of the death of a common dolphin serves as a reminder that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) must move to expedite the removal process for the remaining bottlenose dolphins in the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers," according to a statement from Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J.

"As the weather continues to grow colder and conditions for the dolphins become more dangerous, NOAA must implement its plan to safely move the dolphins so that preventable deaths can be avoided," Pallone said.

But NOAA still plans to leave the dolphins where they are unless they become stranded, ill or distressed, according to Teri Frady, a NOAA spokeswoman.

Menhaden, a prime source of nourishment for the dolphins, are still in the area.

A harbor seal spotted at the southern end of the Shrewsbury was a photographed with a menhaden fish in its mouth, Schoelkopf said.

Meanwhile, a necropsy will be done on the dead dolphin at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., to determine "how fresh it is, whether it died in the river or died and floated in," he said.

"The initial ID on the dead dolphin is that it's a common dolphin, a different species from the group that we have in the Shrewsbury-Navesink," Frady said in an e-mail.

Todd B. Bates: (732) 643-4237 or tbates@app.com

Can dolphins outsmart humans?

2008-11-15T22:19:00.000-06:00

Partly because their brains are roughly the same size as humans, and are similarly or superiorly complex (although differently evolved in structure), some marine biologists have speculated that dolphins, and other Cetaceans, are at least as intelligent as humans, and could have several unknown communicative abilities, that surpass human understanding.

Critics say that if dolphins were as smart as us there’d be more evidence of it. But what type of evidence would suffice? The fact that Cetaceans are suffering from (rather than creating) the kind of environmental suicide that humans indulge in, offers little proof of inferiority.

At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, Kelly the Dolphin has earned her reputation. In fact, it could very well be that she has now got the upper hand on her human trainers… or pets?

All the dolphins at the center are trained to retrieve trash that has mistakenly fallen in to their pools. Upon seeing a nearby trainer, they are to take said trash to the trainer. In return, they receive a fish for their cleanliness.

However it seems that Kelly found a loophole in the system, and is exploiting it to interesting ends. She hoards her trash, underneath a rock at the bottom of her pool, and when she sees a trainer she goes down and removes a piece of paper or trash to get her fish. However she won’t use all her paper at once, instead she holds on to them for the future.

It is an interesting behavior, considering that it is very much like humans storing food for the winter; it displays an awareness of tomorrow.

Dolphins have long been observed to take great care and exhibit much intelligence in their day to day lives. Scientists have observed a dolphin using the spiny body of a dead scorpion fish to extricate a moray eel out of a crevice.

Comparatively, in Australia, Dolphins have been witnessed to place sea-sponges over their snouts as they star poking around in the surrounding area. This protection helps them from being stung by stonefish and stingrays.

But it isn’t just these behaviors that seem to prove their intelligence, but also the commonalities with humans in the way that they play and learn.

Younger dolphin calves will most likely learn new things in an attempt to keep up with those around them, rather than learn directly from their mothers. From balancing kelp on their tail to swimming through bubble rings, it seems an effort to match their peers is what drives them on.

And just as young children are always trying to match those around them, so they want to enjoy the activity rather than just the outcome. It isn’t always a case of the means justifying the ends. The same goes for dolphins, who seem to beef up the level of difficulty of the games they create for themselves.

It is their ability to understand sentences of sign language that astound though, with a sentence like “touch the frisbee with your tail and then jump over it” returning just that from the dolphin. This proves more than just rigorous training is the answer, but an understanding of what we are asking of them.

The year 2007 has been declared as Year of the Dolphin by the United Nations and United Nations Environment Programme. But what do we really know about these incredible creatures? In 1967, acoustics expert Wayne Batteau developed a technique based on ultrasounds to communicate with domesticated dolphins. At the origin of the study, the US Navy cryptically decided to classify the results as top secret.

It is known that the prehistoric predecessors of Cetaceans were land animals who returned to the sea where there was relatively little fear of large predators and an abundant food supply. Dolphins seem to have rich communicative powers among themselves and are very playful. It is also known that dolphins can use tools and teach their children how to use tools.

Dolphins are one of the few animals other than humans known to mate for pleasure rather than strictly for reproduction. They form strong bonds with each other, which leads them to stay with their injured and sick. Dolphins also display protective behavior towards humans, by keeping them safe from sharks, for example.

Historically, humans have long reported an affinity with dolphins, including joint cooperative fisheries in ancient Rome and other interactions. A modern human-dolphin fishery still takes place in Laguna, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

However, humans are known to benefit from dolphins in more intangible ways, as well. One example of a little understood benefit comes from an ongoing study conducted at The AquaThought Foundation, a privately funded research organization dedicated to the exploration of human-dolphin interaction. Their research shows several significant trends that have emerged in the analysis of samples collected before and after human/dolphin interactions.

According to their research, the human subject's dominate brain frequency drops significantly after dolphin interaction. Also observable is a period of hemispheric synchronization (the brainwaves emitted from both the left and right hemispheres of the brain are in phase and of similar frequency). Also, in many instances the background EEG became more evenly distributed within the spectrum. It is believed that this phenomenon may have some sort of therapeutic effect on an individual’s emotional, or physical health.

Other institutes that study dolphins, and other Cetaceans, have reported a myriad of differing perspectives and beliefs, which range from heart-warming to downright bizarre.

The Hawaii based Sirius Institute, known for sending live humpback whalesongs into deep space, says their primary goals is for the reestablishment of interspecies communications with the biggest, most complex brains on the planet.One of their projects is an interspecies birth cohort, a group of children who would be birthed with dolphins and raised somewhat together in order to study the development of communications between the close-knit groups.

These open-minded Cetacea advocates point out that like humans, the Cetaceans transmit information culturally across generations, have the largest brains, and are the longest lived of all species. They would like humans to officially recognize the order Cetacea as a “people”. They believe that step is necessary for their preservations, as was historically necessary to stop genocide of humans. One example is the Australian aboriginal people, who were legally classed as “game animals” until 1967 when they won their “rights as human beings” in a court action.

While Cetaceans aren’t likely to take mankind to court, it has been suggested that they are willing to communicate with us—possibly in a form that WE are too stupid to cognitively interpret.
Is it possible that someday man or dolphin will have figured out a way to effectively communicate? While the concept seems strange, and fantastic—it’s worth remembering that it wasn’t that long ago when no one thought space travel was possible. At the present, enormous amounts of money, focus and energy is poured into our search for intelligent . Maybe we should be simultaneously supporting efforts to communicate with intelligent life on our own planet.

After all, it might be good practice for the future. If we someday do make contact with intelligent alien life, how would we communicate? Surely extra-terrestrials will have evolved with a much different intellectual/physical capabilities than us. Even if a particular alien life form is as intelligent or even possesses far superior cognitive abilities—that doesn’t mean we’ll have compatible biological systems for true communication.

How will we overcome those physical and intellectual communication barriers? Learning to more effectively communicate and understand differently evolved life forms on our planet may provide important insights into possible future interactions with life beyond planet Earth.

Two pods of stranded Wayward dolphins are being heard

2008-11-15T21:25:00.001-06:00

Federal scientists have placed underwater microphones in a river near the Jersey Shore where two pods of wayward dolphins have been stranded for months.They're trying to record sounds that the dolphins might be hearing, to determine if something is scaring them from heading back out to sea.

An initial round of data removed from the devices last week is being analyzed to see if things like construction work on a nearby bridge might be disturbing them.Scientists are monitoring the group of about 12 dolphins they've allowed to remain in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers.

The decision to rescue the dolphins only if they seem to be in imminent danger has angered animal advocates. They say the dolphins may die this winter if they aren't helped back to sea.

Name the National Aquarium' s new dolphin calf!

2008-11-11T15:46:00.001-06:00

Text message and online voting begins November 11

The presidential election has come and gone, but the National Aquarium still needs your vote! The newest addition to the dolphin colony is now 3 months old and the Aquarium is calling on the public to choose her name. From November 11 - 20, people are invited to vote for their favorite of five names by text messaging or visiting WBALTV.com.

Born on July 27, 2008, the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin calf is the 10th successful dolphin birth at the National Aquarium since 1990. The new calf joins her parents, 16-year-old female Chesapeake, and 25-year-old male Chinook, and 6 other adult dolphins. She also shares the nursery pool with another youngster.

Foster was the youngest of the dolphin colony and turned one in September.

The Aquarium's marine mammal staff and volunteers gathered name ideas while watching the calf grow over the last three months. The names have now been narrowed to five choices that each have a strong tie to Maryland, and fit well with the young calf's developing personality.

Bayley (after her mother, Chesapeake, and the Bay)

Calli (after Callinectes, the genus of the blue crab, and Cal Ripken)

Charm (because she lives in Charm City)

Hanna (after the Susquehanna River)

Sassafras (after the Sassafras River)

The Aquarium is encouraging people to vote on aqua.org/dolphins or WBALTV.com or by texting the letter "A" for Bayley, "B" for Calli, "C" for Charm, "D" for Hanna, or "E" for Sassafras to 88509. Standard text messaging rates apply.

Voting will close on November 20th and the calf's name will be announced live at the Aquarium during the WBAL-TV morning show on Saturday, November 22. WBAL-TV is the exclusive media partner for the naming event.

Help support our dolphin calf's care and feeding through a special dolphin calf Aquadopt! For a limited time only, Aquadopt-ers will receive a personalized certificate, photo, a special plush, and more! Visit aqua.org/dolphins for details!

The National Aquarium in Baltimore, a non-profit organization, is Maryland's most exciting and popular cultural attraction, as well as one of the region's leading conservation and education resources, hosting more than 1.6 million visitors per year.

Through transforming experiences, the National Aquarium inspires people to enjoy, respect, and protect the aquatic world. It is dedicated to education and conservation through more than a dozen programs that serve the environment and the community.

SOURCE National Aquarium in Baltimore
http://www.aqua.org

Young dolphin died from illness, not from injuries

2008-11-08T22:49:00.001-06:00

A young male dolphin that appears to have died four days ago washed up Tuesday afternoon near Holiday Inn-Emerald Beach.

A marina patrol officer spotted the dolphin about 3:20 p.m. Authorities who performed the necropsy said the mammal had no obvious injuries and appears to have died from an illness.

"Very little could be found," said Lea Walker, regional coordinator for the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. "There is very little that you can get when they are that far decomposed."
Walker said the mammal, which weighed about 200 to 250 pounds, was taken to an alternate location for the necropsy because it was found in a non-secluded area.

After testing, the dolphin was taken to an undisclosed location for a beach burial.

Swimming with dolphins, a dream in progress

2008-11-08T22:03:00.000-06:00

A PIPER and drummer will be playing in the city centre to raise money for a teenage girl with a rare genetic disorder.

Friends Iain Kerr, 46, and John Park, 56, from Loanhead will be playing at the National Gallery at the Mound, as well as going round city pubs, over the coming weeks.They are supporting Natalie Humphries, 16, from Danderhall, who suffers from the rare Rett Syndrome. This is a neurological disorder, which mainly affects girls, and leads to learning and physical disabilities.

They hope to help her achieve her dream of going to swim with dolphins.Mr Kerr, who is a friend of Natalie's grandmother, Tess, said: "We've already raised around £400, but we hope to raise more by piping and drumming around Edinburgh."Our local darts team was holding a fundraiser for Natalie, and we asked her granny if there was anything we could do to help.

We decided that it was a really good cause to support. We'll be going out at weekends and playing at our usual haunts in Edinburgh and passing a bucket around." The friends both work at Braid Hills Golf Club. They are planning to raise funds for the Children in Need campaign next month.

Rescued dolphin dies!

2008-11-08T21:49:00.001-06:00

A dolphin calf found in kelp beds off the La Jolla coast has died while being transported to the animal rescue center at SeaWorld.

San Diego Lifeguards Lt. John Greenhalgh says a boater reported seeing a whale in distress Saturday morning. Lifeguards found a young Risso's dolphin and brought it by boat to Sea World. The dolphin was dead on arrival at the theme park.

A necropsy may be performed to determine the cause of death.

Risso's dolphins are one of the larger members of the dolphin family.
———
Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.signonsandiego.com

Are Hector's dolphins in danger of extinction?

2008-11-08T21:41:00.000-06:00

Hector's dolphins are being caught in commercial gill nets at 10 times sustainable levels, according to an Otago University researcher.

Associate professor Liz Slooten ran Hector's dolphin population data through a United States-developed potential biological removal model that looks at the impact of humans on marine mammal populations.

Dr Slooten found the Hector's dolphin population was set to shrink to 5000 in the next 50 years, from a current population estimated at just under 8000.

"On the other hand if they were protected from fisheries mortality throughout their range, they could recover to some 15,000 individuals over that same time."

Set nets, also called gill nets, are either pegged to the sea floor or moored midwater. Big fish get tangled in them.

Dr Slooten said fishermen should change to more selective methods, for example, long-lining.
The Hector's is the world's rarest dolphin.

In May, the Government announced new measures protecting Hector's and Maui dolphins, with set-netting banned up to seven kilometres off the Taranaki coast, the Marlborough Sounds and at Te Waewae Bay in Southland.

Last month commercial fishermen won a High Court ruling temporarily lifting the bans.

Care for the Wilds chief executive Barbara Maas said the research confirmed the toll fishing was having on Hector's dolphins.

Dolphin Trafficking

2008-11-08T21:40:00.001-06:00

When I attended a recent party at the Vancouver Aquarium, I was surprised that people were allowed to walk around on the outside decks and walkways around the marine animal tanks.
I was told that smoking in these areas have been banned because someone tossed their cigarette into a tank. However, people were still carrying drinks.

There were staff monitors, one of whom warned a woman who precariously sat her drink on the fence of a swimming tank. It made me worry about the welfare of the animals.

But there's a much more serious angle to explore about the industry. Such as what the dolphins are doing there in the first place. And how they got there.

On Thursday, October 23 at 9 p.m., CBC Television's Doc Zone will feature The Dolphin Dealer.
The film follows Canadian Christopher Porter, a former Vancouver Aquarium dolphin trainer who masterminded the biggest dolphin export deal ever. Porter sells wild dolphins for about $100,000 each from the Solomon Islands to marine parks around the world.

Porter thinks there is educational value for people in their interactions with dolphins. But animal rights activist Ric O'Barry thinks otherwise. He claims that many die en route to their destinations and has ethical issues with forcing them to perform tricks throughout their lives.

Director Brad Quenville presents both sides of the controversial issue, and discovers that there isn't a clear-cut right and wrong.

Las Vegas Mirage has named its newest addition: Bella the dolphin

2008-11-08T21:05:00.001-06:00

The Mirage’s newest addition now has a name.

A dolphin calf born Sept. 6 to 8-year-old Huf n Puf was named Bella. The calf completes three generations of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins at The Mirage’s Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden and Habitat.

Seven weeks after her arrival, the dolphin had her name selected through an employee contest.
Mirage president Scott Sibella selected the winning name and said Bella -- which means "beautiful" in Italian -- best suited the dolphin.

Other names entered in the running were Lucy, Sweet Pea and Amaya.

Bella is in the Mirage's birthing and research pool along with her mother, Huf n Puf, grandmother Dutchess and Dutchess’ son, Sgt. Pepper. Bella’s father, Lightning, is in another pool within the facility.

The animal care team will keep an eye on Bella for the first year of her life, monitoring her habits and development. The team has seen the young calf become more independent, venturing away from mom for swims on her own.

Youths attacked a pod of dolphins!

2008-11-08T21:01:00.000-06:00

Authorities should throw the book at a group of youths who attacked a pod of dolphins in South Australia, Project Dolphin Safe president Aaron Machado says.

"We're calling for national parks to actually endorse and enforce the regulations they make," Mr Machado said today.

A fisherman told the Marina Sports Association this week that he saw a group of youths lure dolphins into the Whyalla Marina with fish about two weeks ago and attack them with rocks.
Marina Sports Association vice president Wayne Carn described the school holiday attacks as "disgusting".

"It's illegal to feed dolphins and they're such a lovely creature, it's hard to stop anyone," he said.
Mr Machado said authorities should enforce regulations to make an example of the youths involved in the Whyalla incident.

Japan: Dolphin delicacy may send you to the ER

2008-11-08T20:58:00.002-06:00

Japanese diners who enjoy tucking into dolphin meat are putting their health at risk, as well as courting international condemnation.

A new study by two Japanese universities found that residents of Taiji, a whaling town on the Pacific coast, who frequently ate the meat of pilot whale - a member of the dolphin family - have mercury levels 10 times the national average.

The hair of three tested residents contained quantities of mercury higher than 50 parts per million [ppm], a level that can lead to neurological problems.

Researchers from the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and Daiichi University's College of Pharmaceutical Studies tested hair samples from 30 men and 20 women from the town between last December and July this year.

The average mercury level among the men was 21.6 ppm and 11.9 ppm among women - both about 10 times the national average. Three men with dangerously high levels of mercury said they ate pilot whale meat more than once a month.

Tetsuya Endo, a member of the research team, said the residents faced no immediate threats to their health but suggested they cut back on their dolphin and whale meat consumption, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Mercury levels halved among people who stopped eating the meat for two months.

Last year a study of dolphin meat served in school lunches in the Taiji area revealed mercury levels 10 to 16 times higher than the health ministry's accepted level of 0.4 ppm.

The latest warnings come as the town, about 280 miles west of Tokyo, begins its annual dolphin cull.
Local fishermen are expected to slaughter around 2,000 of the estimated 20,000 dolphins that will be killed in Japanese coastal waters between now and April.

The hunters bang on metal poles to drive pods of dolphins into secluded coves, where they are speared and hacked to death. The few that survive are sold to aquariums in Japan, Europe and the US.

Despite international condemnation of the culls, the people of Taiji, where coastal whaling is said to stretch back 400 years, claim the local economy would collapse if coastal whaling and dolphin hunting were banned.

Japan: The slaughtering of dolphins

2008-11-08T20:06:00.001-06:00

At Taiji, a quaint whaling town 700 kilometres south of Tokyo, waves lap against steep rocks of a popular national park.However, visitors are kept well away from the slaughter happening in a secluded lagoon nearby.Japanese fishermen, backed by the country's government, are slaughtering thousands of dolphins off the coast, while ignoring both international protests and concerns about contaminated dolphin meat being sold to the public.Between October and April, some 16 000 to more than 20 000 of the animals are killed in the annual hunt, in Taiji and other Japanese fishing towns, often cruelly stabbed with knives, hooks and lances.

'This is a scandal'The mass slaughter goes ahead with the backing of the government, but without the majority of the population being aware of it.Part of the marine mammals' flesh is sold in Japan, despite warnings of high-level mercury contamination, animal rights activists said."The dolphin meat is highly contaminated," dolphin activist Richard O'Barry said on Monday. He sharply criticised Japan's government for keeping both the controversial slaughter and the contamination secret from the Japanese population."This is a scandal," said O'Barry, a former trainer of dolphins for the US television series Flipper.

Fishermen disable the dolphin's sense of direction by hammering on metal rods held into the sea, thereby herding them into a lagoon secured by nets."It often happens than babies are separated from their mothers and that pregnant dolphins miscarry because they panic," said O'Barry, who regularly travels to Taiji.Every passerby walking on the road along the lagoon can see the mortal fear of the animals, he said."The cruelty happens long before the killing," he added.

Individual, particularly beautiful dolphins are selected in a lagoon with the aid of dolphin trainers and sold off at high profits to aquariums and dolphin shows around the world.The remaining dolphins are killed in a secluded bay nearby, O'Barry said. The booming dolphin-captivity industry was providing a major financial incentive to keep the brutal hunts going, O'Barry told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.The former dolphin trainer has been fighting to protect the marine mammals since 1970.One dolphin can fetch up to $200 000 (about R1-million), O'Barry said, adding that some of the survivors of this year's cull were destined for Germany.

He urged the Switzerland-based World Association of Zoos and Aquariums to monitor its members and bar them from participating in the trade of animals caught in the Taiji hunt. Without international demand, the hunt would lose its allure.Environmentalists accuse Japan of killing the dolphins and other small whales because they eat many fish. A part of the killed mammals is processed into pet food and fertiliser.Japan's government justifies the cull as part of the country's whaling tradition and food culture.

Activists, on the other hand, argue that only about 1 per cent of the Japanese population eats whale meat, and say only a very small minority of those would consume dolphin meat."Most Japanese have never heard of it," said O'Barry. He warned against condemning the Japanese public as a whole for condoning the cruelty, as only a few people profit from the dolphin business.But he criticised the country's media, which keep mum about the annual slaughter, despite studies that showed the mercury content in dolphin meat to be higher than in fish from Minamata.

In the western city of Minamata, thousands died in the 1950s as a result of mercury-contaminated wastewater from a chemical plant entering the bay.Like then, the Japanese government is now also covering up the issue, O'Barry said, calling Taiji was a new Minamata.After one lawmaker in the regional parliament of Taiji made the contamination public, dolphin meat was removed from school menus.But now it was sold in other parts of the country, claimed O'Barry who fights against the "secret dolphin genocide" as a member of Safe Japan Dolphins, a coalition of animal rights activist groups.

Yet he remains hopeful about being able to stop the killing soon. Activists secretly filmed a movie in the Taiji lagoons, which is to be presented in January 2009 at the Sundance Film Festival.O'Barry said he hopes the shocking movie, which shows the dolphin slaughter in great detail, will cause a similar reaction as Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth did for climate change.

White-beaked dolphins' population could decrease in Scottish waters

2008-11-08T19:25:00.000-06:00

CLIMATE change could stop dolphins visiting Scottish waters, experts have warned.

Rising temperatures could cause a drop in cod, herring and squid numbers, which are among dolphins' favourite foods.

White-beaked dolphins in particular can often be seen off the coast of Aberdeenshire in the summer.

Ian Sim, of the Sea Water Foundation, said: "They used to be quite frequent but they seem to be fading out.

"Research is vital for their preservation. It would be devastating if they disappeared from our coast but there is a concern for their future."

Dolphin Therapy

2008-10-11T22:09:00.001-05:00

When I was a child, my family used to take summer vacations at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. During the early mornings, I recall seeing the dolphins diving in and out of the ocean. They were close enough to observe; however, too far away for any contact. I always wondered what it would be like to swim with these graceful and intelligent creatures.

In Ancient Rome and Greece, scholars thought that dolphins had special healing powers. Or were good omens if they appeared during the launch of an ocean voyage. About thirty years ago, researchers, doctors, and behavioral therapists began to investigate this ancient belief. Could the dolphins actually heal humans, especially children, with disabling and/or other serious conditions?

Special TraitsPerhaps it would be helpful to provide some background information about dolphins; specifically, the bottle nosed family that are found in the Atlantic Ocean. Dolphins belong to the Cetacean order of mammals. Like us, they have lungs and breathe air. They live in pods with other dolphins, and are very social animals. Similar to the individual nature of human voices, dolphins have whistles that distinguish them from each other.

Interestingly, their brains are larger than ours.Dolphins have a highly developed sense of underwater vision that assists them in dark waters. They send out a series of signals, or clicks, that bounce off of nearby objects in the manner of an echo. When the clicks return through the dolphin´s inner ear, it provides their brains with an image of their surroundings. This unique sense is called echolocation, and is facilitated by a round organ called the melon that is found in the head of the dolphin.

Expert Opinions about Therapeutic Effects According to Dolphin Human Therapy of Key Largo, Florida, and its founder, Dr. David Nathanson, an innovator in this type of treatment, many illnesses and disabilities are receptive to interactions with dolphins.

The three most common diagnoses are cerebral palsy, autism, and Downs Syndrome. Although dolphin therapy may provide benefits for all ages, research and empirical evidence indicate a significant efficacy with children.

Some experts use dolphin therapy as a reward for desired behavior. Others expose the children to dolphins as a part of a comprehensive therapy plan. For some, it is the primary therapeutic vehicle. While it is not known exactly what mechanism is at work, the success rate with many illnesses is a positive result of this alternative therapy.

According to Dr. David Wolgroch, a respected researcher who performed studies in Eilat, Israel, dolphin therapy merits our consideration."As an academic, many questions need to be investigated before definitive claims can be made about Dolphin Therapy.

However, as a clinician there is no doubt that this unique modality of treatment has contributed significantly to the welfare of many individuals receiving treatment. Whether it is the Dolphin Sonar emissions, their permanently fixed anatomical smile, their playful nature or our mystical perception of them is unknown. One thing for sure, the presence of Dolphins produce an atmosphere unique in the therapy world."

Chinese river dolphins swim in better protected waters

2008-10-11T21:27:00.000-05:00

The Chinese government, which has done quite a lot for the Yangtze river’s endangered freshwater dolphins, last week decided it needed to do more.The key initiative of the new Yangtze Dolphin Network is to connect existing reserves established for the Baiji dolphin, the world's most endangered member of the whale family, and the finless porpoise.

The network was initiated by the aquatic and wildlife protection office of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and is funded by donors including WWF-China.

«WWF started working on Yangtze dolphin conservation as early as 2002 and I am very happy to join the Yangtze Dolphin Network today,» said Dr. Wang Limin, WWF-China’s deputy director of conservation operations. «It is of big significance to dolphin protection efforts in China and around the world.»

Human activities such as illegal fishing, pollution and shipping have hit the Baiji dolphin and finless porpoise hard, causing their numbers to dramatically decline over the last few years.

During a Yangtze Freshwater dolphin expedition in 2006 no Baiji dolphins were found, while the population of the finless porpoise has dropped to an estimated 1,800, half the number found in the 1990s.

«It is necessary to integrate each nature reserve to effectively protect the Baiji dolphin and finless porpoise,» said Fan Xiangguo, director of aquatic wildlife protection at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Over the past few decades the Chinese government has made considerable efforts to protect the freshwater dolphin by setting up nature reserves. The Yangtze Dolphin Network includes six nature reserves and two monitoring sites.

«Dolphins are the indicator species of river health,» said Li Lifeng, Freshwater Programme Director, WWF International.

«If they are gone, the river will not be able to support human development. The Yangtze Dolphin Network is a great step towards protecting the river for both species and people.»

The network was established in Xingzikou, Jiangxi province, on September 24, with the launch ceremony followed by two days of dolphin monitoring and rescue training, as well as one day of field monitoring practice.

Apart from the Yangtze, river dolphins are found in South America's Amazon, India's Ganges and Pakistan's Indus rivers as well as a few locations in south and south-east Asia.

Dolphins' rescue has been unsuccessful

2008-10-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

A pair of bottlenose dolphins remain trapped in a small lake in northern New South Wales after two unsuccessful rescue attempts today.

It is believed the two dolphins entered Prospect Lake in Ballina two weeks ago via a narrow creek.
Rescue teams from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Queensland-based Sea World Research and Rescue Team tried to rescue the dolphins early this morning.

But both their attempts failed when the dolphins - an adult and a 12-month-old calf - first swam under then broke through the net used to capture them.

Sea World director of marine sciences Trevor Long said a staff member would travel to the lake to feed the mammals until the next rescue attempt on Wednesday.

Officials remain confident the dolphins will be successfully captured.

Death of young dolphin in New Jersey river raises concerns for other dolphins

2008-10-11T20:57:00.001-05:00

A young dolphin was found dead in the Navesink River on Wednesday morning, probably from a group of wayward dolphins that made a wrong turn out of Sandy Hook Bay in June, officials said.
It was found by a marina worker in Fair Haven near where a group of 15 dolphins has been staying since early summer, drawing crowds of sightseers but worrying rescue groups that say the approaching winter puts them in grave danger.

The cause of death was not immediately clear; tests were planned.

"We got a lot of enjoyment watching them," said Jim Ceruti, owner of the Fair Haven Yacht Works, near where the dead dolphin was found. "For as good as that made you feel, it hurts even worse when you see one of them die."

The plight of the dolphins has become a point of contention between rescue groups and national wildlife officials, who have been reluctant to approve a plan to coax or scare the dolphins out of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers back out to sea.

"Hopefully this animal did not die in vain," said Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine. "Hopefully this is a wake-up call to let people know these animals are not going to make it through the winter."

Teri Frady, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. The agency has said it would not act to move the dolphins back out to sea unless it appeared they were in danger or becoming ill, partly because a rescue could stress the animals and do more harm than good.

Fiji: Survey done on dolphins and whales

2008-10-11T19:47:00.000-05:00

The Fiji Department of Fisheries and the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium research team has completed a three week survey for whales and dolphins in the waters off Levuka.

This survey, following on from similar surveys undertaken in 2002 and 2003, confirmed an increase in the number of humpback whales sighted since the last survey five years ago. Mr Aisake Batibasaga, Principal Fisheries Research Officer with the Fiji Department of Fisheries said: "it is encouraging to see the results of the survey have shown an increase in whale numbers since the Fijian Government declared the waters of Fiji a whale sanctuary in 2003."

The research team lead by Mr David Paton from Blue Planet Marine, undertook a survey of whales and dolphins in the Lomaiviti waters to compare current numbers with that sighted during a survey conducted 50 years ago by Dr Bill Dawbin. The team also recorded a number of pods of pilot and false killer whales as well as spinner and bottlenose dolphins during the survey.

The research team collected data including identification photographs of the tails of the humpback whales seen as well as skin samples for genetic analysis and humpback song. This data will aid in gaining a better understanding of the population structure and movements of these whales.

Fisheries Research Officer, Ms Saras Sharma, who was also part of the team, said: "working with whale researchers from Australia has allowed us to learn the techniques used to identify and undertake research on whales and dolphins."

Fiji Fisheries Department has set up a database to record and document sightings of whales and dolphins in the Fiji waters. The Fiji Government is working towards drafting a Management Plan to conserve these species which are not only important culturally, but also have the potential for tourism opportunities within Fiji.

Taiwan must protect their dolphins!

2008-10-04T16:39:00.001-05:00

A Canadian scientist dedicated to the preservation of aquatic mammals urged the Taiwan government Wednesday to take immediate action to protect an isolated and endangered population of dolphins that is found only in the eastern Taiwan Strait.

Peter S. Ross, a marine mammal toxicologist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada, made the call at a press conference held in Taipei by Taiwanese environmental protection advocates, including Legislator Tien Chiu-chin of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.

Ross is currently on a visit to Taiwan to attend the two-day 2008 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Roundtable Meeting on the Involvement of Business/Private Sector in Sustainability of the Marine Environment, which opened Tuesday in the capital city.

Along with other international and local cetacean scholars, Ross organized the Eastern Taiwan Strait Sousa Technical Advisory Working Group to provide expert advice, guidance and scrutiny on conservation issues concerning Taiwan's remaining Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, known by the scientific name of Sousa chinensis.

The dolphins, which are white in colour and endemic to Taiwan, were discovered in 2002 off the west coast of the island. In August, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) listed the species as critically endangered after research found that the population of dolphins had dropped to less than 100.

Ross said the species might soon become extinct if it is not properly protected.

There will be no vibrant economy if the oceans are not healthy; and there will be no healthy oceans if there are no healthy dolphins, the scientist said, referring to the plight of the coastal dolphins as a signal from heaven to the Taiwanese people.

Ross urged the Taiwan government to list the dolphin's habitat as a preservation zone as soon as possible and to prohibit any kind of development there.

In Taiwan, the humpback dolphins are called "Matsu Fish" by local fishermen because they usually are seen between March and April off the western coast when the northeasterly monsoons weaken and the birthday of Matsu, the goddess of the Sea, is celebrated in Taiwan.

Originally published by Central News Agency website, Taipei, in English 1101 17 Sep 08.

Dolphins hunters are now being hunted by the BFAR

2008-10-04T16:24:00.001-05:00

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is now hunting down a gang behind the slaughtering of dolphins off Baler town in Aurora province, a radio report said Wednesday.Radio dzRH reported that the remains of the dolphins were found off Reserva village in Baler town in Aurora.

Only the heads, bones and tails were found.Provincial fisheries and aquatic resources officer Victoriano San Pedro said this prompted them to suspect the dolphins were killed so their meat can be sold.San Pedro cited initial reports indicating the dolphins would have been 89 inches long and 100 kilos each.

Cancer even affects dolphins

2008-10-04T16:12:00.000-05:00

Kelly, Napier Marineland's last dolphin probably died of cancer, a team of Massey University researchers determined yesterday.

A tumour the size of a mandarin was discovered inside the otherwise healthy dolphin during a post- mortem examination at Massey's Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

The 38-year-old dolphin had been unwell for several days and died on Wednesday.
She had been at Napier's Marineland since 1974.

Wildlife health centre director Dr Brett Gartrell said the main findings were indicators of Kelly's remarkably old age for a dolphin.

"But we also found what we think is cancer at the base of her stomach. The mass is being tested and we will know for sure in a couple of weeks.

"What we do know is that she was in really good body condition, and that she had no parasites or long- standing disease other than the cancer."

The 95kg common dolphin's body remains at the vet teaching facility on the Palmerston North campus.

"Her body is being used by researchers studying wild dolphin," Dr Gartrell said, "so there will be some good to come from her death much like the way a human body left to medical research can contribute".

Staff at the University's Institute for Veterinary Animal and Biomedical Sciences undertake post-mortem examinations many times each year, on wildlife ranging from birds to marine mammals.
Dr Gartrell was assisted by Masters student Jodi Salinsky and marine biologist Karen Stockin.

Las Vegas: MGM Mirage welcomes baby dolphin

2008-09-13T23:43:00.000-05:00

A third-generation baby dolphin was born Saturday at Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage. Habitat officials said the female took its first breath with its mother and grandmother nearby.

The Atlantic bottlenose dolphin was the eighth dolphin to be born at the habitat.

The unnamed calf was born after a two-hour labor. It has been thriving since birth, habitat officials said.

The calf, as well as the habitat's other dolphins, are on display for public viewing.

Young child with cancer has wish granted: swimming with dolphins

2008-09-13T23:04:00.002-05:00

A courageous young cancer patient is set to fulfil her greatest wish and swim with dolphins thanks to fundraising by Matlock Rotary.

Seven-year-old Kade Webster, who lives with her grandparents in South Darley, had been battling a rare nerve cell cancer but finished treatment in July.Her grandmother Janet Webster said Kade, who started junior school at South Darley, this week, would be thrilled to swim with dolphins.She added: "She taught herself to swim on holiday in France so this idea of swimming is amazing. She loves the sea and animals.

"Rotary club members heard about her wish and raised almost £3,000, by manning a stall at Chatsworth Country Fair, to put towards fulfilling her dream.Money will also be given to an 18-year-old boy, from Darley Dale, who has a debilitating disease.John Bent from Matlock Rotary Club said members wanted to do all they could to help local children.He added: "It makes you sit up and realise when you have grandchildren of your own who are not affected by illness how fortunate you are."Your heart goes out to children like that."

Janet said: "I'm overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of people. So many people have taken Kade in to their hearts."There is no cure for her illness and you only get one shot at treatment. At the moment she is just fantastic. She is doing really, really well."Kade has undergone several bouts of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and is the face of Sheffield's Children's Hospital, where she was treated.

The full article contains 269 words and appears in Matlock Mercury newspaper.

Protecting the blind Indus dolphins

2008-09-13T22:19:00.001-05:00

Sindh Wildlife department is taking measures to save and maintain the 10 Ramsar sites in Sindh, keeping in view that that the migratory birds came from Russia, Siberia and various countries of Central Asia to spend winter season in Pakistan.

Besides, the department would also put more concentration on the reserves of Blind Indus Dolphin by providing better environment and living condition for them as the department has so far saved 76 blind Indus dolphins through rescue operation from 1995 to 2007. The population of the Indus Dolphin across Indus River has reached to 821, sources said.

The Indus dolphin reserve has also been declared Ramsa in 2001.In Pakistan, so far 19 wetlands have been declared as Ramsar sites in Pakistan out of which 10 are in Sindh. The ten wetlands of Sindh which have been declared as Ramsar sites based on the criteria that they regularly support congregation of 20,000 water birds or more regularly.

Ramsar (Iran) Convention was held under the auspices of wetland international and was signed by Pakistan in 1971 and ratified in January 1976. The sources in Sindh Wildlife department said 10 Ramsar sites were in Sindh out of which three sites were declared in 2002, three in 2001 and three in 1976.

The first one was Drigh Lake declared Ramsar in 1976 which covered an area of 164 hectors, Haleji Lake in 1976 which covered an area of 1,704 hectares, Kinjhar (Karli) Lake in 1976 which covered an area of 13,468 hectares, Indus Dolphin Reserve in 2001 which covered an area of 125,000 hectares. Jubho Lagoon in 2001 which covered an area of 706 hectares, Nurri Lagoon in 2001 which covered an area of 2,540 hectares, Hub Dam in 2001 which covered an area of 27,000 hectares, Deh Akro-11 Desert wetland complex in 2002 which covered an area of 20,500 hectares, Indus Delta in 2002 which covered an area of 472,800 hectares and Runn of Kutch in 2002 which covered an area of 566,375 hectares.

The other 9 Ramsar sites situated in Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan.According to the sources in NWFP, Tanda Dam was declared Ramsar in 1976 which covered an area of 405hectares and Thanedar Wala in 1976 which covered an area of 4,047 hectares.

In Punjab, Taunsa Barrage declared Ramsar in 1996 which covered an area of 6,576 hectares, Chashma Barrage in 1996 which covered an area of 34,099 hectares and Uchhali Complex (including Khabbaki, Uchhali and Jahlar Lakes) in 1996 which covered an area of 1,243 hectares.In Balochistan Astola (Haft Talar) island was declared Ramsar site in 2001 which covered an area of 5,000 hectares, Jiwani Coastal Wetland in 2001 which covered an area of 4,600 hectares, Miani Hor in 2001 which covered an area of 55,000 hectares and Omara Turtle Beaches in 2001 which covered an area of 2,400 hectares.

The sources in the Sindh Wildlife department said that the results of preserving the Indus Blind Dolphin was achieving as its population is increasing.

Girl and dolphin bond together

2008-09-13T22:16:00.001-05:00

A 9-year-old girl will never forget a trip to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium when she met Winter, a dolphin who lost her tail after being injured in a crab trap line.

Atrina Simpkins was born with a birth defect and is missing her right leg.

"What I love about Winter is she has the same thing as me," she said. "And I never saw an animal or a dolphin like that ever, the same as me."

Simpkins' meeting with Winter helped her realize she wasn't alone.

"Some people would try to ignore me," she said. "Some people would look at me different ways but when I came here and I saw the dolphin and we got in contact and I found out that the dolphin actually likes me as my friend."

When Simpkins needed a new prosthetic leg, the aquarium put her in contact a company developing a cutting-edge prosthetic tail for the dolphin.

"In the beginning, human prosthetics benefited Winter and now all the technology that's gone into Winter's prosthetics is now benefiting humans," said dolphin trainer Abby Stone.

Katrina lives in Indiana, but keeps in touch with aquarium staff for updates on her best friend.

"You can see it in their eyes. It means a lot," Stone said. "You can see there is a relationship there and a connection there that goes far beyond what we understand."

Saving the Mekong dolphin in Cambodia

2008-09-13T15:46:00.000-05:00

Overfishing, war, and pollution have decimated the dolphins, and only a few dozen of them are left. Environmentalists have begun a project aimed at contributing to the development of the villages and to saving the dolphins, but their numbers continue to diminish.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Saving the few dozen freshwater dolphins still remaining in the Mekong River, and helping the local population by guaranteeing them a source of livelihood: this is the aim of the "ecotourism" project begun in the border area between Laos and Cambodia by the Cambodia Rural Development Team (CRDT), which has the twofold objective of protecting wildlife and providing an alternative source of income for the inhabitants of the villages.

For centuries, the waters of the Mekong River - which crosses China, Laos, and Cambodia, before reaching the ocean in Vietnam - were the uncontested habitat of thousands of freshwater dolphins. The Sino-Indian War and the increase of industrialization, together with high pollution levels, have decimated the species, only a few dozen of which survive; 71, according to the latest count provided by the World Wildlife Fund.

The village of Sambor, in the north of Cambodia, is one of the places selected by the CRDT as a model of environmentally sustainable development: tourists are given the opportunity to live in contact with the local population, to help the inhabitants protect the natural habitat of the dolphins, and to teach a little English to the children. The most frequently requested activities include well digging, sewer construction, and work in the fields.

The experiment promoted by the activists is intended to save the dolphins from extinction by radically changing the habits of the inhabitants of the village, who for decades have used aggressive fishing methods like explosives and high-capacity nets. Now the freshwater dolphins are seen as a resource to be "exploited" in order to attract foreign capital and tourism; the visitors pay 60 US dollars for three days in contact with nature, and the money is used to support the local population. In a country in which half the population lives on a dollar a day, the inhabitants of the village earn five dollars a day by providing food (two dollars) and lodging (three dollars) for the visitors.

But recent studies have demonstrated that if the benefit for individuals is beyond question, the same cannot be said for the dolphins: in spite of a small increase in their numbers in the initial phase of the project, it is not yet clear whether this is truly effective for preserving the species. Scientists affirm that a new and not yet identified disease is spreading rapidly, killing the offspring. Researchers fear that the new virus - caused by pollution in the water, infested with chemical agents and the runoff from gold mining projects - could soon lead to the total extinction of the dolphins.

Dolphins deaths raise concerns!

2008-09-13T15:43:00.002-05:00

If a dolphin die-off in the northern lagoon moves south, the marine mammals' population in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties could be at risk, says a researcher at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

"Indian River dolphins are excellent sentinels of ecosystem health and, beyond that, human health," said Dr. Gregory Bossart, marine mammal veterinarian and pathologist at the Fort Pierce research center. "They're the canaries in the coal mine. We need to address the problems they have not just for their sake but out of concern for the health of the ecosystem and even our own health.

"We need to find out what's going on before it comes around and bites us in the rear end."
Since May 1, 47 dolphins have died in a stretch of the Indian River Lagoon from the southern end of the Mosquito Lagoon near Titusville south to Palm Bay, said Megan Stolen, research biologist at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in Orlando, who has been designated as the on-site information coordinator for what has been deemed an "unusual mortality event" by federal officials.
That designation means scientists throughout the country have been tasked with investigating the die-off and trying to determine a cause.

So far, Stolen said, "we don't have a smoking gun."

Stolen said the area of the die-off "doesn't appear to be spreading; there's no indication at this point that it's moving south." But both she and Bossart noted that the distinct groups of dolphins in the lagoon interact.

"So there's the possibility that whatever is killing dolphins in the northern part of the lagoon could affect dolphins (in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties)," Bossart said. "And with the health problems our dolphins have already, this could push them over the edge."

Bossart began studying the lagoon's dolphins after a die-off claimed 27 in 2001.

"Our research over the past few years has shown some very disturbing health problems already among dolphins in the lagoon," Bossart said, "such as levels of mercury 21 times what we permit in the fish we eat."

Even if the cause of the die-off is determined, Stolen said, "there's not much we can do right away. We can't move in and save the sick dolphins. But we can learn from this; and if the cause is something we're putting in the water, we can stop future deaths by doing the right thing."

WHAT'S KILLING THE DOLPHINS?

Megan Stolen, research biologist at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in Orlando, said possible causes of the dolphin die-off include:

•Biotoxins, "toxins with biological origins, such as algae blooms, as opposed to those with manmade origins, such as oil spills."

•Man-made contaminants such as pesticide runoff and mercury.

•Infectious diseases such as viruses and bacteria. "One possibility we have discarded," Stolen said, "is direct human contact such as boat strikes and entanglements in fishing nets."

WHAT YOU CAN DO

•If you see a dolphin that's dead or in distress, immediately call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hot line: (888) 404-3922.

•Signs that a dolphin is in distress include: a newborn by itself for a long period of time and animals that aren't moving or are having trouble breathing, especially in shallow water.

•Time is of the essence: The sooner researchers can examine an animal, alive or dead, the better their chances of determining the cause of the die-off.

DOLPHINS DYING IN THE NORTHERN INDIAN RIVER LAGOON

Number of dolphins killed since May 1: 47

Number of males:a 24

Number of females: 11

Number in which sex could not be determined: 12

Number of newborns: 15

Number of dolphins killed in 2001 event near Cocoa Beach: 27

Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute

Are Bottlenose dolphins hungry for cetaceans?

2008-09-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

Scientists who autopsy cetaceans that wash up dead on British beaches have come to a grim conclusion: some species are being killed by bottlenose dolphins.Dead porpoises (and other cetaceans) turn up regularly on beaches around Britain.

According to a Defra report last year (pdf), the cause of death of 15 out of 56 porpoise bodies found - the majority - was "physical trauma (bottlenose dolphin attack)". The photo above shows the rake marks on a harbour porpoise caused by a bottlenose dolphin.The killings were first reported from the north-east coast of Scotland, then off the coast of Wales, and this week the body of a Risso's dolphin was found further south still, in Cornwall.

The Risso's dolphin (see photo below) was said to have been killed over food shortages and dolphins were described as being so hungry they are turning on each other.

Autopsies show some of the dead animals (13 out of 56) have died of starvation. But not all, and the bottlenose killers are not eating the porpoises they kill. In the case of the Risso's dolphin, it is not even a competitor for the same prey (Risso's feed on squid). So why are they killing other cetaceans?"We can't state confidently that the killings are tied to declining fish stocks," says dolphin expert Nick Tregenza, who advises the Marine Strandings Network in Cornwall.

His guess? "They could be doing it for fun."Bottlenose dolphins are known to spread behaviour culturally and there are extensive records of violence between and within dolphin pods."Killing for fun" could be another culturally transmitted behaviour.Tregenza likens it to the spread of milk-bottle opening by blue tits."It could be a form of play rather than food competition," he suggests.

Alternatively, he says, a bottlenose dolphin might have tried to help the weak Risso's dolphin and become angry when the Risso's failed to respond.In a sick way, I kind of like the "killing for fun" explanation. Tregenza says the Cornwall Wildlife Trust has reported that dolphins have been seen picking up stones from the sea bed and throwing them on the surface.

"They were thought to be throwing stones at seals on rocks not far away," Tregenza says.Stone-throwing and killing for fun. Dolphins are even more like us than we thought.Rowan Hooper, online news editor

A pod of Bottlenose dolphins beached themselves on Florida beach

2008-09-06T22:16:00.002-05:00

Since mid-May, 46 bottlenose dolphins have stranded themselves and died on beaches throughout the Indian River Lagoon, alarming scientists who say that's six more dolphins than they usually find in an entire year.

Three of the dead dolphins have been found in Mosquito Lagoon, on the southern end of Volusia County.

The deaths have been declared an "unusual mortality event," and an investigation is under way, said Wendy Noke-Durden, a research biologist with Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.

Marine biologists from across the country are comparing notes and sending samples for testing, with Hubbs serving as the coordinating agency.

So far, scientists don't know why the dolphins are dying, Noke-Durden said.

The die off does give scientists a sense of deja vu. It's the latest in a string of mysterious animal deaths and diseases in the lagoon over the past decade.

In 2001, 34 dolphins stranded. Two years earlier, 100,000 horseshoe crabs died. Then in 2002, puffer fish in the lagoon suddenly became toxic to the people who ate them.

Scientists also have worked to pinpoint the causes of lesions and tumors on sea turtles and dolphins in the lagoon. Found on more than a third of the dolphins, it's too soon to tell if the tumors or lesions have any role in the latest deaths.

Last winter, a spate of dolphin and manatee deaths happened during a toxic algae outbreak, but scientists don't think the latest deaths are related because they haven't found high levels of toxins in the dead dolphins. Researchers have found respiratory problems in some and brain lesions in others.

Most of the dolphins have been emaciated, with no food in their stomachs, said Blair Mase, the southeast regional marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. The deaths appear to be happening among the most vulnerable dolphins -- newborns and older males.

The deaths could be the result of harmful algal blooms or even regular diseases or toxins, Mase said. They had suspected a form of toxin released by a kind of algae called pyrodidium. A surge of that was reported in August. It produces a luminescence and causes the paddles of kayakers to glow in the dark.

They've tested for biotoxins and viruses and are "covering all the bases," Mase said. "We've got just enough information to go, 'Hmm, I wonder what that means?'

"Maybe something's going on that's not due to one cause," Mase said. "We may have numerous things going on that are causing this."

Now scientists have a new concern. They'll be watching the lagoon carefully in the coming months to measure how all the releases of floodwater from the St. Johns River affect the lagoon ecosystems. The lagoon spans 156 miles along Florida's east coast and includes three water bodies. It is connected by a canal to the St. Johns.

One challenge the biologists face is the condition of the dolphins when they're found. Many of the dolphins have been too decomposed to get good quality samples.

"The better condition the animals are in when they're found, the better results we can get," Noke-Durden said.

Anyone who sees a stranded dolphin in the lagoon is asked to call the state's wildlife alert hot line at 888-404-3922.

Watching dolphins is fine...if not done too close!

2008-09-06T21:45:00.000-05:00

SIGHTSEERS trying to get close to a pod of dolphins off a South Devon coast have been warned they could be breaking the law.

The RSPCA and environmentalists have fired a warning shot after reports the marine mammals were becoming 'stressed'.

About 35 craft surrounded five bottlenose dolphins in Hope Cove in the South Hams area on Friday.

Brixham Sea Watch said the mammals could have been 'seriously stressed' by the actions of the vessels.

Brixham Sea Watch were alerted to the dolphins' plight by a National Coastwatch lookout who was concerned for their welfare.

Dolphins are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Anyone recklessly disturbing them risks prosecution and a fine of up to £5,000.

Sea Watch spokesman Lindy Hingley has monitored dolphins in the area for several years and said the creatures would have been 'seriously stressed' by the presence of the boats.

She said the organisation wanted to fire a 'shot across the bows' of sightseers keen to approach the pod.

RSPCA spokesman Jo Barr said: "We understand people are trying to get close to them on boats to take pictures, and the dolphins are becoming very distressed.

"We are urging the public to keep their distance and would remind them that under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is illegal for any person to recklessly disturb a wild animal and this includes dolphins."

Aquarium in Bulgaria welcomes baby dolphin

2008-09-06T21:44:00.001-05:00

A baby dolphin born in a zoo in Bulgaria is waiting to get a name as no one knows if it is male or female yet.

It takes several days or weeks to work out what sex dolphins are when they are born.

The baby and its mother, Dolly, have got 45 days off before they start performing for visitors at the dolphinarium.

Protecting dolphins ends in hospital stay for outspoken man

2008-09-06T20:29:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, August 19th, at about 8:30 pm, City Councilor, Lawrence Makili, was abducted from his home in Honiara, Solomon Islands, by eight men in two cars.

He was then driven a few kilometers out of town when the thugs beat him and tried to kill him. Mr. Makili bravely fought back which was said to have saved his life. He received a broken right arm, fractured ribs, fractured, facial bone, and several other injuries. Mr. Makili has been an outspoken dolphin protector, trying to stop the traffic in captive dolphins in the Solomon Islands.

There are currently five different dolphin capture teams operating in the Solomon Islands. "Anyone of them could be responsible for this," stated Richard O'Barry, Director of Save Japan Dolphins Coalition. Mark Berman of Earth Island Institute said, "Lawrence Makili was a victim of attempted murder, simply for trying to help his country and their wild dolphin population. We will be returning to the Solomon Islands to do everything we can to find out who is responsible and bring them to justice."

At this time, the identities and motivations of the attackers are unclear and no arrests have been made regarding the incident.Mr. Lawrence Makili is a active campaigner to protect forests and has been monitoring the local tuna industry on behalf of Earth Island Institute to ensure the tuna catch is Dolphin Safe.

A peculiar teacher: a dolphin

2008-08-31T22:09:00.001-05:00

Like most dolphin trainers, Billie is patient and dedicated teacher.

Over the last few years, the 23-year-old has taught up to half a dozen wild dolphins how to tail-walk - the skill of 'walking' backwards through the water on their tails.

What makes the feat even more remarkable is that Billie herself is a bottlenose dolphin - the only known example of a mammal teaching human tricks to friends and family members in the wild.

Billie the Dolphin learnt to 'tail walk' in captivity

Marine scientists have described the discovery as astonishing - and say it shows dolphins are even brighter than we realised.

Billie is thought to have learned the skill during three weeks in captivity in the early 1980s.

The female - who lives off the Adelaide coast in Australia - was captured by a local dolphinarium after she became trapped behind a marine lock and was unable to return to the sea.

After three weeks in a concrete tank she was released back into the wild with a '3' branded on her dorsal fin to make her easy to spot.

Billie returned to her usual haunts and - to the astonishment of dolphin experts - began to tail-walk herself.

Despite receiving no formal training, the scientists believe she learned the trick by watching her cell mates being fed for performing the tricks.

Now - more than 20 years after being released back into the wild - she is passing on the skill.

Scientists were astonished when Wave the Dolphin started to walk on her tail as well.

Researchers have discovered that Billie has taught an entire group of wild dolphins how to do the same trick.

Dr Mike Bossley, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Australia said: 'We can't for the life of us work out why they do it. We're doing systematic observations now to determine if there's something that may trigger it, but so far we haven't found anything.'

He added: 'I have observed all the local dolphins over a number of years, and have watched Billie occasionally performing tail-walks in the years since her release, sometimes in the bow wave of large ships, which is an awesome sight.

'About five years ago another female dolphin called Wave began performing the same behaviour, but does so with much greater regularity than Billie. A third adult female dolphin has also been seen tail-walking.'

Tail walking is one of the most popular tricks in dolphin show. Rewarded with food, dolphins learn to surge vertically out of the water and then propel themselves backwards 'walking' through the water.

But while it is common in captivity, it is extremely rare in the wild.

Dolphins are very social creatures and seem to learn from eachother.

The WDCS team are carefully watching Billie and her group to see whether the trick is a form of play, or communication. They also want to see if other members of the dolphin group will join in.
He added: 'Irrespective of function, it would seem that tail walking in the Adelaide waters is another example of cultural behaviour in large brained animals.

'By cultural behaviour we mean a behaviour that is transmitted between individuals and becomes a characteristic of a particular social group.'

Its not the first time that dolphins have shown cultural behaviour. A small group of dolphins in Western Australia hold sponges over their snouts as protection when searching for spiny fish on the ocean floor. Others have been observed using dead spiny fish to coax eels out of hiding places.
Other captive dolphins in America worked out how to bait visiting sea gulls. The animals learned to hold back fish from feeding time, and then use it to attract passing sea birds. When the gulls swooped, the dolphins would grab them and present them to the astonished trainers.

Cathy Williamson, Anti-captivity Campaigner for WDCS said: 'This behaviour by the Adelaide dolphins demonstrates their intelligence and is even more proof that these animals are unsuitable for confinement in captivity, where they are unable to express natural behaviour or form normal social groups with other animals.'

Bottlenose dolphin will give birth in Minnesota Zoo

2008-08-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

Minnesota Zoo officials brought two female Atlantic bottlenose dolphins to Apple Valley earlier this year hoping they would hit it off with the zoo's lone male resident dolphin, Semo.

The plan apparently has worked. Zoo officials announced Monday that Allie, 21, is pregnant. If all goes well, the new calf will be introduced to zoo guests in 2009.

As a result of her pregnancy, zoo officials have canceled daily dolphin shows effective today so they can monitor the behavior and progress of all four dolphins as a group. Allie's mother, April, is currently undergoing evaluation by University of Minnesota veterinary staff for behavior irregularity. Guests will still be able to see the dolphins from the Great Hall in Discovery Bay.

Allie and her mother April came to Minnesota in January from the Dolphins Connection in Florida as part of a breeding recommendation by a consortium of zoos and aquariums that manage animals collectively.

Gangetic dolphins' population increases!

2008-08-28T20:49:00.000-05:00

This should bring back the smile on the faces of conservationists. The number of endangered Gangetic river dolphins - the species has a global population of less than 2,000 - has been found to have increased in the Brahmaputra river in Assam. The Gangetic river dolphin is found in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli river system of India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

In the 19th century, the dolphins were plentiful in the entire range, although no actual data on their population was available. However, due to various pressures, such as incessant hunting because of the dolphin's oil and skin, the range and abundance of this species has sharply declined. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revised the dophin's threatened status from Vulnerable to Endangered in 1996.

It is also one of the top protected species in India under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Besides the Ganges river system of northern India, the Brahmaputra river system is a major habitat of Gangetic dolphins in India. According to experts, because of no water development projects in the mainstream, the Brahmaputra river system in India and Bangladesh is now considered the last remaining refuge of this species.

"The fact that the number of Gangetic river dolphins in the Brahmaputra has been decreasing over the past two decades was an alarming fact. Until now there seems to have been a beacon of hope," Abdul Wakid, programme leader of the Ganges Dolphin Research and Conservation Programme in Guwahati, Assam, said. The beacon of hope that Wakid was referring to is the recent survey conducted by the NGO Aaranyak, which works on biodiversity research and conservation in the northeast.

"Our latest study this year revealed that the number of dolphins has increased by 15 since 2005 which is a sign of hope for us. The number of dolphins in 2005 was found to be 250, but this year's study found the numbers to have increased to 265 in the Brahmaputra," Wakid said. Aaranyak has set up a dolphin conservation network of 40 community-based, trained volunteers to monitor and conserve dolphins in their habitats scientifically.

They have also set up a field structure near the Kulsi tributary of the Brahmaputra to monitor the dolphins. "With Assam declaring the dolphin as the state aquatic animal in June this year, the enthusiasm to protect the animal is even more boosted. "Moreover, we have trained more than 100 youths in the Brahmaputra valley to conserve dolphins and conducted numerous campaigns to raise awareness on the issue at the grassroots level," Wakid said.

"The Gangetic river dolphin has been maintaining the aquatic equilibrium of the Brahmaputra. Therefore a decrease in its population adversely affects the socio-economic condition of Assam," he added.

Dolphins in Las Vegas

2008-08-25T00:40:00.000-05:00

Visitors to Las Vegas can explore more than the city's myriad dining, shopping and entertainment possibilities — they also can discover rare and endangered creatures. Several casinos offer opportunities to get up close and personal with animals like tigers, dolphins and sharks. Programs include:

Tiny tigers

Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat is the home of golden, white-striped and snow white tiger cubs.

Guests are invited to watch these felines, expected to weigh up to 575 pounds each when fully grown, as they pounce and play in a specially built nursery.

The cubs can be seen daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Secret Garden also is home to five rare animal breeds, including the royal white tigers of Nevada, the white lions of Timbavati, golden heterozygous tigers carrying the gold and white gene, African and Asian leopards, a black panther and a snow leopard.

Behind the scenes

Learn the secrets of the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat with a special one-hour VIP guided tour.

Guests will be escorted through the facility by one of the educational experts, and will be provided with an exclusive insider's view of the hard work and dedication that goes into the training and care of these animals.

The tour features Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, lions, tigers, leopards and a panther.
Trainer for a day

The Trainer for a Day program at The Mirage provides guests the opportunity to work side by side with a team of expert animal trainers as they care for a family of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins.
From learning how to feed these creatures to discovering how to communicate with them, the day-long program provides guests with an unforgettable experience.

The program is available to four people each day, Fridays through Wednesdays, and participants must be 13 years old or older.

Predators of the deep

Dangerous predators and unusual aquatic creatures can be found within Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

The 90,560-square-foot facility allows visitors to view 100 aquatic species, including 15 types of sharks.

The aquarium's newest residents include a rare Komodo Dragon with 60 dagger-like teeth and deadly saliva, and a giant Pacific octopus, the largest species of octopus in the world.
Guests also can come face to face with stingrays, jellyfish, sea turtles and piranhas.

Audio wands — available in English, Spanish and Japanese — offer insight into the lives of these creatures of the deep.

The pride of Las Vegas

The king of the jungle reigns supreme within The Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand.

The one-of-a-kind, indoor habitat encourages guests to learn more about these majestic creatures by providing a rare opportunity to see them up close and personal.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and a clear Plexiglas tunnel provide optimum viewing for guests of all ages. Up to six lions can be seen each day.

Feeding dolphins is illegal and it hurts both dolphins and humans

2008-08-23T15:35:00.002-05:00

Spotting a friendly dolphin out on the water is nice surprise on any boating trip - especially when it gets up close, seemingly begging for a treat. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a warning for boaters. Officials say feeding the wild animals is illegal and dangerous - for them and for you.

Out on the sparkling waters of Sarasota Bay, an audience was just waiting to spot a dolphin.

"You know, as soon as you approach Alvie Road Bridge, you're going to see probably at least five boats, people waiting for Beggar to come right up and approach," said Stacey Carlson of NOAA.
Beggar, a dolphin, seems to be quite the performer. Randy Wells, of the Mote Marine Laboratory, says Beggar has been doing the same tricks in the channel for 18 years.

"The typical repertoire for Beggar is to come up perpendicular to the path of a boat, let people see that he's there, then he'll come over and approach the boat very closely," said Wells.

With a flash of his distinctive smile, Wells says Beggar is hoping for one thing and one thing only - a snack.

"Chips, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, pickles, sardines, oysters, canned fish of various kinds," Wells said.

But handouts are hurting Beggar and killing other dolphins up and down the coast.

"We deal with this problem from South Carolina, all the way down, up through the panhandle. I mean, wherever there's a dolphin, dolphins approach boats, people are going to feed them," said Tracy Dunn of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Officials at Mote Marine have been studying dolphins in Sarasota Bay since the 1970s. The biologists there have known Beggar his whole life.

Carlson says the number of dolphins getting entangled in recreational gear like fishing line and nets is increasing from seven in 2007 to nine already this year.

"Their natural wild behaviors change. They don't feed as often on their own, their forging strategies change," she said.

Instead of finding food on their own, they rely on humans for it. And because dolphins learn by association, the routine is passed on to others and then down to their young.

This isn't just dangerous for dolphins. Dolphins like Beggar are so habitually trained to expect food, many times people will reach over to pet them, and instead they instinctively bite.

Whether intentional or not, Beggar has ingested everything from cigarette butts to a diamond engagement ring.

"We got a call from a person he had bitten and removed the ring from, asking that we return it to them once we do the necropsy when the animal died from it," said Wells.

Fortunately, Beggar is still alive and swimming. But others haven't been that lucky.

That is why the feeding of dolphins is illegal. Some boaters just don't know it - others just don't care.
To prosecute, though, the National Marine Fishery Service has to see someone in the act.

"Just like speeding, when you see a boat, a marked law enforcement boat, people react differently. As soon as that boat is gone, people go back to their normal activity," said Dunn.

But undercover work is helping that and agents and biologists say education will help even more.
"We've all grown up thinking that dolphins are very special. They're human beings in wetsuits, basically. We know enough now to know that's not true," said Wells.

"No matter how readily the dolphin's coming up and approaching, looks like he's begging and needs food, you know? Do not feed them," added Carlson.

Even though Beggar's show can be quite convincing, he and all other dolphins will be better off finding food on their own.

Mote Marine Lab and NOAA add that frequent contact with people is making dolphins more comfortable approaching fishermen. As a result, they're getting tangled in lines and equipment.
When you're fishing, officials suggest recycling your bait and line by passing it along to another boat or throwing it away once you get ashore.

Best Fishing Practices for Avoiding Interactions with Wild Dolphins:

Never feed wild dolphins – it is against federal law and is harmful to the dolphins

Avoid tossing leftover bait to dolphins if they are nearby. Make use of leftover bait by taking it home to freeze for later or by giving it to your fishing neighbor

Check your gear and terminal tackle to make sure they are in good shape and will not break too easily, resulting in a lost fish with a hook that could be eaten by a dolphin

Avoid fishing in an area where dolphins are actively feeding – dolphins may mistake your bait or catch for food

Do not release caught fish in the presence of dolphins – this reinforces the association of recreational fishing activities with a food source. Anglers should try to release the fish as far from the dolphin and as quietly as possible.

Change fishing locations if dolphins are showing interest in your bait or catch.

Do not cast your line toward a dolphin.

Use corrodible hooks – any hook other than stainless steel.

Use circle hooks – it is believed that they reduce injuries to fish and dolphins.

Never try to reel in a dolphin that may be hooked – if a dolphin is hooked and the hook is set, cut the line as close to the dolphin as safely possible. If the hook is not set, put slack on the line and give the dolphin time to release itself.

Stay at least 50 yards away from wild dolphins while boating or using personal watercraft.

Stow used fishing line. Make sure to collect any broken or used fishing lines to discard in recycling bins (Please visit the Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program Web site for a list of bin locations: http://floridaconservation.org/mrrp/bin_information.asp).

If a recycling bin is not available, please discard in a secure bin. It’s against Florida law to intentionally discard monofilament into area waters because such line can kill or injure marine mammals, birds and sea turtles.

New device could save dolphins' lives!

2008-08-22T21:40:00.001-05:00

Loads more dolphins could soon be spotted swimming around the UK, thanks to a new hi-tech gadget.

Dolphin groups around Britain have been getting much smaller and wildlife experts think it's because they're getting tangled up in fishing nets.

Now scientists have developed the Pinger device which sends sonic signals to the dolphins, telling them to steer clear of any nearby nets.

It's already worked on porpoises, now it's hoped it can work on dolphins too.

Fishermen in Cornwall, in the south west of England, are among the first in the UK to try the device and, if it's a success, it could be used in other areas too.

In the past, ocean experts thought pair-trawling - which is when two massive fishing boats drag huge nets strung between them through the sea - was a big threat to dolphins.

That's because as well as catching fish, they accidently net the mammals too - something that's known as by-catching.

Now experts think nets which stay on one place near the shore, called static nets, could also be part of the problem, which the Pinger could stop.

Wildlife expert Joana Doyle said: "The Pinger has been used to deter harbour porpoises from nets in the past and it has been very successful.

"It's massively reduced by-catch rates in a lot of fisheries globally."

People's attention is captivated by baby dolphin

2008-08-09T00:47:00.000-05:00

THE dolphin family at Sea World has welcomed a new addition with open flippers.
The calf was born on July 27 to 30-year-old Miko and staff at Sea World said mother and baby were doing well.

Today it swum comfortably with the other dolphins but stayed closed to Miko all morning.
The calf is yet to be named as staff are yet to discover if it's a boy or a girl.

Marine Animal Trainer Amanda Davis said dolphins had a 12 month gestation period and the calf was born late at night 10 days ago.

``We came in the next day and there was it was in the water,'' she said.

``We knew Miko was showing signs of labour and were hoping the calf would be in the water but it was still a nice surprise.''

Visually impaired teens swim with dolphins!

2008-08-09T00:35:00.001-05:00

Twenty-eight teenagers, ages 14 to 18, from Miami Lighthouse for the Blind summer camp will have the opportunity to partake in the Dolphin Encounter of a lifetime on August 7th at 11 a.m. at Miami Seaquarium, 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne (Tel: 305-361-5705).

The teenagers will get a chance to touch dolphins, feed them, play with them and get up-close and personal with these loving creatures. Photo opportunity available.

"We are very grateful to Miami Seaquarium for offering our blind and visually impaired teenagers this wonderful opportunity to experience the use of their other senses by swimming with the dolphins. We want to give our transition teens an unforgettable experience and show them the unlimited opportunities that lie ahead of them,” said Virginia A. Jacko, a former client of the Miami Lighthouse who has been CEO of the organization since 2005. Ms. Jacko is the only blind female CEO in an agency serving the blind or visually impaired in South Florida.

“We want to stress that these kids can do as much as a sighted kid does. This is an event that helps them understand the importance of gaining confidence and taking on more challenges in their lives. Having these teenagers actually swim hands-on with the dolphins sends out that message loud and clear," said CEO Jacko.

“We are very excited to have the teenagers come out to the park and experience the magic of these animals. Interacting with dolphins truly is an unforgettable experience. We hope the se campers will leave Miami Seaquarium with a heighten sense of appreciation and understanding of these incredible animals,” said Eric Eimstad, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Miami Seaquarium.

Members of the media are invited to join us in this wonderful opportunity to watch our blind and visually impaired teenagers have one of the most exciting and empowering experiences of their lives.

New dolphin specie identified in the last 50 years!

2008-08-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

The first pictures of what has been dubbed the world's ugliest dolphin were shown on Australian television on Thursday.

The snub fin dolphin with its distinctive bulbous head was first identified three years ago off Western Australia's remote Kimberley coast.

It is the first new dolphin species to be discovered in fifty years.

Unlike some dolphins, the snub fins aren't used to humans and are easily scared away.

On Thursday researchers used a dart gun to retrieve a DNA sample from the dolphins for genetic examination.

"The last couple of days we've had fantastic weather and feeding activity and the right tides so some of the best sightings we've had so far," one of the researchers told Australian broadcaster Channel 10.

The dart only leaves a small scratch on the animal but provides a mountain of information.
Conservationists say despite the dolphin's odd appearance it is a magnificent creature.

Make-a-Wish Foundation may girl's wish come true, as a dolphin trainer!

2008-08-02T17:22:00.001-05:00

Thirteen year old Crystal Mercado loves everything about dolphins. Her favorite movie is the “Eye of the Dolphin” and her most loved book is “Flipper.” So it is no surprise that for her one true wish Crystal would choose to be a dolphin trainer.

Diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition, Crystal and her family will be headed to Marathon, Florida on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008, where she will spend two days at the Dolphin Research Center (DRC) learning how to train dolphins and one day enjoying the local attractions in the Florida Keys. She arrives back in Odessa on Aug. 16, 2008.

While at the Dolphin Research Center, Crystal will spend two days in the “Trainer For a Day” program. Crystal will learn how to read and understand dolphin behavior as well as how DRC uses positive reinforcement to share new behaviors with the dolphins and sea lions. She will then join the trainer on the dock and experience the joy of communicating with the dolphins by learning to use hand cues (like sign language) to ask for specific behaviors.

Best of all, Crystal will get the experience of lavishing love and praise on the dolphins when they accomplish the task at hand.

To celebrate Crystal’s upcoming wish, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas, West Texas Regional office, will be hosting a send off swimming party from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008, at 5803 Sundance Place in Midland.

Members from My Community Federal Credit Union (MCFCU) will also be at Crystal’s swimming party on Sunday. Last year MCFCU donated $18,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, West Texas Region. Funds from this donation will be used to sponsor Crystal’s wish.
About the Make-A-Wish Foundation®

The Make-A-Wish Foundation® grants the wishes of children between the ages of 2 ½ and 18 who have been diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. The West Texas Regional Office serves 42 counties including Midland and Ector County. The approximate cost of one wish is $6,000. This year the West Texas Regional Office is working towards granting over 100 wishes in the West Texas territory.

Beached Risso dolphin was euthanized!

2008-08-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

Dozens of young children learned a hard but necessary lesson yesterday as they watched a dolphin euthanized near Skaket Beach.

"It's like when we had to say goodbye to Chelsea," Janet Ives from Ottawa, Canada, told her 10-year-old granddaughter Emily Phelan.

Hotline

To report the stranding of a dolphin, whale or seal, call the Cape Cod Stranding Network hot line at 508-743-9548.

Like many parents on the flats, Ives likened the death of the dolphin to the passing of a family pet.
The animal was a Risso's dolphin, C.T. Harry, assistant stranding coordinator with the Cape Cod Stranding Network, told the crowd during an impromptu lecture.

Risso's dolphins usually travel in large groups of up to several hundred individuals and are common 50 to 100 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, he said.

The 8½-foot, roughly 350-pound female dolphin that died yesterday was in bad physical condition and was likely separated from its group, he said.

Even if the dolphin was healthy enough to return to the water, it was unlikely that it would find its group again, Harry said. "This particular species is a very social animal."

The dolphin was first sighted swimming across the flats from Rock Harbor as the tide retreated yesterday morning at about 9.

The area around Skaket Beach experiences dramatic tidal action and water empties from the flats quickly during the falling tide.

Lifeguards realized the fin moving through the water was likely not a shark and called the stranding network, a project of the Yarmouthport-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, said Karen Wolff, an Orleans lifeguard originally from Philadelphia.

Once the animal beached itself, a crowd gathered and soon children of all ages had dug holes and trenches in the still wet sand to provide water for the rescuers to keep the dolphin moist. Children's buckets were put to use transporting water and members of the crowd provided towels for the rescuers to use.

"It makes me feel proud," said 6-year-old Paige DosSantos from Oakville, Conn., who excavated holes along with her 8-year-old brother, Jed.

The dolphin needed to be euthanized because of its poor physical condition, Harry said.

Fresh and healed lacerations on the animal's head and body indicated a skin infection but it was difficult to tell what might be wrong with the animal internally, he said.

The dolphin was also emaciated, a sign the animal was unable to eat, stranding coordinator Sarah Herzig said.

There have been few reported cases of Risso's dolphins stranding inside Cape Cod Bay, Herzig said. Most strandings of the species occur on the Nantucket Sound side of the Cape, she said.
"If it was healthier, we might try to relocate it," Harry said.

The dolphin was brought by stretcher to a waiting stranding network truck to be taken to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for a necropsy, an autopsy on marine mammals.

Information from the necropsy could be helpful for scientists studying Risso's dolphins, Harry said.

New Jersey Dolphin camp graduates 40 kids!

2008-08-02T16:21:00.001-05:00

Those dolphins that left their ocean home for a river in northern New Jersey provided the backdrop for an unusual summer camp in Brigantine.The bottlenose dolphins have spent the past month frolicking in the Navesink River in Monmouth County.

Friday morning, kids graduated from what's called Dolphin Camp at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. Lee Ann Campbell, the camp director, says about 40 kids learned how to help stranded dolphins and other sea life.

Special call help dolphin calf identify their mother

2008-08-02T15:27:00.001-05:00

Female bottlenose dolphins whistle 10 times more often than usual after giving birth in order to help newborns recognise who is "mum".

The findings by a US team appear in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

These "signature whistles" are unique to each animal, allowing them to be used for identification.
Bottlenose dolphins are highly social; in their first weeks, calves encounter many adult females that they could potentially mistake for their mothers.

"The most obvious explanation for the increase in maternal signature whistle production is the need for the mother to be in contact with her calf," zoologist Dr Deborah Fripp from Dallas Zoo suggested.

"However, the decrease in signature whistle production of [dolphin] mother Lotty after three weeks does not fit this idea, especially as calves actually wander further from their mothers as they get older."

Instead, Dr Fripp said a likely purpose of this whistling enables a process called imprinting, whereby the calf learns to recognise its mother.

"Bottlenose dolphins can swim at birth and are highly social. In other species, these traits are associated with imprinting. A calf can easily get separated from its mother and find itself among many other dolphins."

In some bird species, the critical period for imprinting is as short as a few hours. In some mammals, it is the first few weeks of life.

Imprinting may also help stop females from stealing newborns from other mothers. This behaviour has been reported before in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), and newborn Lotus was stolen on day one, though subsequently returned.

"Theft incidents almost always occur in the first day of the calf's life. Perhaps this is because after a calf has imprinted on its mother, such theft is more difficult," Dr Fripp explained.

Although dolphins can whistle at birth, they are not born with their unique signature whistle.
"Dolphin mothers do not teach their babies how to whistle, so the increase in whistle production at birth is not for this," Dr Fripp said.

She added: "Calves' whistles are almost never similar to their mothers'. Interestingly, female calf whistles are more similar to those animals in their environment which they are not interacting with than to those of animals they know."

In captivity

Dr Fripp investigated maternal whistle use in four captive dolphins at Kolmardens Djurpark in Kolmarden, Sweden. The females were named Nephele, Vicky, Delphi and Lotty.

The four females each had their own calf. Unfortunately, all but the last calf born - Lotus, the son of Lotty - died within two weeks of life.

"It is sad that the calves died. The infant mortality rate was high, but this year is not representative," said Dr Fripp.

"Infant mortality rate in the wild is not known - if a calf is born and dies within a week it probably won't be recorded. In captivity it is."

As soon as Lotus was born, Vicky stole him and took him to the surface. Lotus remained with Vicky until day six when he was removed from the pool for a day of medical treatment. On his return, he was reclaimed by rightful mother Lotty.

Dr Fripp added: "Unfortunately, with only one calf surviving to week three, and a calf with an unusual first week at that, the evidence to show a return to normal levels of maternal signature whistle production is not particularly strong. Future work is needed to examine this."

Human device saved dolphin calf's life!

2008-08-02T15:15:00.000-05:00

A baby dolphin that became too weak to swim after getting caught up in fishing nets was saved using a custom-made life jacket, staff at a Japanese aquarium said on Tuesday.

The Umitamago aquarium on the southern island of Kyushu rescued the dolphin after receiving a call from fishermen in February saying it had been caught up in their nets. The creature was so weak that it could not even float on its own in the fishing boat's well.

Aquarium staff came up with the life jacket idea after becoming worn out keeping the ailing long-beaked dolphin afloat in a pool during her recovery.

"The dolphin was so feeble that two of our divers had to support her from below in a pool," said 39-year-old Toru Kumashiro, the mammal team leader at Umitamago. "It was very difficult. For five days, we had to take turns to support her around the clock."

Thanks to the contraption made of polystyrene and swimming floats, which allowed her to use her fins, the dolphin was able to recover sufficiently to swim by herself in nine days, Kumashiro said. A picture from the aquarium showed her wearing the "jacket."

"She is swimming around so energetically now," Kumashiro said. The dolphin was revealed to the public for the first time last week and visitors are being invited to think of a name for her, he said.
The aquarium intends to keep their newest exhibit and conduct research on her in collaboration with the Institute of Cetacean Research.

"There is still not much data on long-beaked dolphins. I hope we can make a contribution," Kumashiro added.

Death of dolphins are other marine creatures raise concerns

2008-08-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

THE latest unusual visitor to these shores has been found washed up on a South Wales beach.
A stranded loggerhead turtle was discovered lying weak and on its back by a family out walking at Ogmore by Sea, near Bridgend.

But the creature is now being cared for by marine experts and will eventually be released into the warmer waters of somewhere like the Canary Islands.

Mark Major, his partner and their children stumbled upon the turtle during the family outing. Mark’s partner, Rhia Gregory, said: “We were picking up pebbles on the beach when I saw something on the pebbles and thought it was a large crab.

“Mark took a look and said it was a turtle on its back. There was a strong wind and the sea was rough so perhaps it was washed up. Our children, Jade, eight, and Kelsey, seven, were very excited. After all it’s not every day you find a turtle on a beach.

“It looked weak and so we contacted the RSPCA.”

An inspector from the RSPCA and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue identified it as a loggerhead and took it to the RSPCA centre in West Hatch, Somerset.

It has now been taken to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, where it will be prepared for eventual release into warmer waters.

Two rehabilitated turtles from Blue Reef were recently in the news having been successfully released into the warm waters of the Canary Isles.

Lin Gander, turtle administrator with West Wales-based Marine Environmental Monitoring, said: “Each year loggerhead turtles are found stranded on our Welsh beaches. These are usually small or disadvantaged turtles, with a flipper missing, and it is thought that they are carried to our shores by strong south westerly surface currents that take them away from their natural foraging areas in the Atlantic Ocean.”

Records of all turtle sightings and strandings around the UK and Irish waters are recorded by Marine Environmental Monitoring on a national turtle database.

Experts say live stranded turtles should be reported to the RSPCA and all turtle sighting and strandings should be reported to Marine Environmental Monitoring on 01348 875000.

Baltimore Aquarium: Dolphin calf stillborn!

2008-08-02T15:12:00.000-05:00

One of the two pregnant dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore gave birth to a stillborn calf early last week, aquarium officials reported Tuesday.

Shiloh, a 29-year-old Atlantic bottlenose, was in labor for 40 minutes in the early-morning hours of July 14. About 3 a.m., she gave birth to a stillborn calf weighing almost 32 pounds.

"It's always very hard to report things like this. When it's a baby, it breaks our heart," said Sue Hunter, director of marine mammal training. "Nobody wants to see it end this way."

Results of a necropsy -- an animal autopsy -- won't be available for at least a month, aquarium officials said.

Johns Hopkins University's comparative pathology lab conducted tests on the calf and Shiloh's placenta, but officials said the preliminary exam could not determine an obvious cause of death.
"There were no complications during Shiloh's pregnancy," said Dr. Leigh Clayton, head veterinarian and director of animal health. "Her labor seemed to progress quite normally, so we were very surprised when she had a stillborn calf."

Of the nine calves born at the aquarium since its opening in 1990, two have died: a 10-day-old male of bacterial meningitis, and a 4-month-old female of pneumonia. The female, named Bridgit, succumbed to an infection after being roughed up by at least two grown males in 2004.
Aquarium officials said that although they're disappointed, the death of a calf is not unusual. In the wild and in captivity, dolphin calves have a high mortality rate: About a third of all calves do not live to 1 year of age.

"It's a bit of a mystery when calves pass away here, because they get the best care and medication" at the aquarium, Hunter said.

Throughout Shiloh's 11-month pregnancy, veterinarians gave the dolphin exhaustive prenatal care, including periodic ultrasound examinations, daily vitamins, blood tests, and constant observation. All signs pointed to a successful pregnancy and birth, aquarium officials said.

Beginning July 13, aquarium volunteers and staff kept a 24-hour watch on Shiloh and often observed movement in her side, which meant her unborn calf was "kicking."

Shiloh arrived at the aquarium in 1990 and is an experienced mother. She has given birth to three healthy calves, including Chesapeake, who was born in Baltimore in 1992 and is pregnant with a calf of her own.

Both Shiloh and Chesapeake are in the nursing pool assisting Jade, a new mother to a 10-month-old calf named Foster.

All dolphins in the nursing pool are in good health, said aquarium officials. Chesapeake's prenatal tests also have been normal, and animal care staff are cautiously optimistic about her unborn calf, which is expected any time.

"Chesapeake's risk will be the same as Shiloh's," Clayton said. "Her baby has a decent chance, but it doesn't mean anything is guaranteed."

Dolphin carcass found in garden!

2008-08-02T14:27:00.000-05:00

A Portland, England, man said he was shocked to open the curtains of his home and find a 3-foot dolphin dead in his garden.

Mike Elliott, 28, said the sight was especially shocking because he and roommate Gary Harvey live half a mile from the sea and it's an uphill climb to their home, The Sun reported Friday.

"I know dolphins are supposed to be clever, but there's no way it got there by itself and died," Elliott said. "I don't know if it's someone's idea of a joke or what, but it's obviously been dumped in our front garden."

He said the dolphin corpse had what appeared to be two puncture marks on its stomach, indicating it may have been harpooned.

The dolphin was removed by local authorities after police were alerted a crime may have been committed.

A spokesman for the town council said authorities have not determined how the dolphin ended up in the home's garden, but police have yet to find any evidence of a crime.

"It would have needed a hell of a tidal wave to reach that property and we didn't have one of those," the spokesman said. "Maybe at the end of the day it was a prank."

Fishermen defend themselves following 20 dolphins deaths

2008-08-02T14:25:00.001-05:00

WA fishermen have been forced to defend their methods off the Pilbara coast after 20 dolphins died last year when caught in trawl nets dragged by commercial fishing vessels. Pictures leaked to The West Australian from within the Department of Fisheries reveal dead dolphins believed to have been caught in nets off the Pilbara coast last year.

The WA Fishing Industry Council said yesterday the number of dolphins caught inadvertently had more than halved in two years as the industry introduced new technology, including devices designed to stop dolphins from being trapped in the nets.

But marine conservation groups warned that the death toll was still too high and more needed to be done. The Pilbara trawl fishery is worth $7.5 million a year and is vital in providing fresh fish such as bluespot emperor, flagfish, spangled emperor, rankin cod and red emperor to the WA market. The industry argues that the use of trawl nets in waters between Point Samson and Port Hedland, which last year produced about 2200 tonnes of scalefish, is the only viable option for fishing the region.

WA Wilderness Society marine coordinator Dr Jill StJohn said despite vast improvements by the industry to reduce the dolphin bycatch, the mortality rate per tonne of fish caught in the Pilbara trawl fishery was among the highest in the world. She said the Pilbara fishery was near big populations of dolphins.

But WA Fishing Industry Council chief executive Graeme Stewart said techniques used to minimise dolphin bycatch were well advanced compared with other trawl fisheries internationally and more was being done.

Dolphin deaths in the Pilbara trawl fishery, which are reported in the department’s annual state of the fisheries report, have fallen from 52 in 2005, to 31 in 2006 and 20 last year. Since March 2006, devices to prevent dolphins being trapped have been made compulsory.

Mr Stewart said the aim was to reduce deaths further, but dolphin behaviour remained a mystery. Video footage had shown that dolphins regularly swam in and out of the nets to feed. Occasionally a dead dolphin was found but researchers could not determine the cause of death. Department spokesman Andrew Cribb said skippers were required to keep logbooks on interaction with protected species.

Cardigan Bay, popular for dolphin sightings!

2008-07-29T22:24:00.000-05:00

CARDIGAN BAY has been named as the best place in the UK to see bottlenose dolphins because they appear whatever the weather, a study has found.

The seventh annual National Whale and Dolphin Watch reported that Wales had the highest number of bottlenose dolphin sightings at 98, followed by north-east Scotland with 79 sightings.
Edita Magileviciute, the organisation’s sightings offi- cer, said: “The likelihood of seeing cetaceans decreased significantly with poor visibility, rain, fog and high seas.

“However, in New Quay bay, West Wales, we observed bottlenose dolphins almost every day despite rain, fog and gusty winds.

“South-west Cardigan Bay was the most common location to see bottlenose dolphins together with Moray Firth in Scotland.

“The results were comparable to previous years with harbour porpoises being the most widely distributed around the British coasts, ranging from Orkney to Channel Islands, with concentrations mainly on the east coast of Scotland, Wales and south-west of England.”

Sixty manned sites were open to the public but watches were carried out in more than 165 locations around the country.

A total of 339 sightings of whales, dolphins and porpoises were reported during the week, comprising eight species.

The bottlenose dolphin was the most frequently seen cetacean with 146 sightings, while harbour porpoises were reported 106 times during the week.

The third most common species was the minke whale with 41 sightings.

The rarest species sighted was a humpback whale in Catfirth, Shetland, the survey said.

10 years old angler win tournament by catching dolphin!

2008-07-29T01:06:00.000-05:00

Twenty junior anglers, all younger than 14 years old, targeted dolphin fish July 5 and 6, each team attempting to catch the three heaviest dolphin to win the Islamorada Fishing Club Junior Dolphin Tournament. The Islamorada Lady team, guided by Captain Jeff Everson, took first place with a total of 99.7 pounds of dolphin -- including a 54.5-pound bull caught by 10-year-old William Warner of Jupiter, Fla.

"This may be the largest dolphin weighed in for a dolphin tournament this season," said event organizer Tammie Gurgiolo of the fish young Warner caught on light tackle with a spinning reel. Warner fished with his 6-year-old sister Sarah Warner of Jupiter and three young teammates from Islamorada: 5-year-old Robbie Reckwerdt, 6-year-old Anna Reckwerdt and 4-year-old Carly Stanley.

The tournament’s second-place team, fishing with Captain Scott Stoky on the Nuff Said, weighed in 50.9 pounds of dolphin. The fish were caught by Stoky’s daughter, 4-year-old Kaylee Stoky, and 10-year-old Kyle Everett, both of Key Largo.

Dolphin fits new prosthetic tail!

2008-07-23T17:37:00.000-05:00

A dolphin that survived the loss of her powerful tail flukes has been fitted for another new fin at a marine animal rescue center in Clearwater.

The new prosthetic device will allow the bottlenose dolphin, named Winter, to now swim more freely.

Winter lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. She last received a prosthesis in October, but has since outgrown it.

Winter was a frail, dehydrated 3-month-old when she was discovered back in December 2005 near Cape Canaveral. A fisherman found her tangled in the buoy line of a crab trap. The line had cut off the blood supply to her tail which caused it to slowly fall off.

PETA wants investgation of dolphin's death at The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas

2008-07-12T16:51:00.001-05:00

PETA sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) animal care division urging an investigation into the death of the dolphin Sage at The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Sage was found dead July 5 at the bottom of a pool at The Mirage's Dolphin Habitat exhibit. PETA is calling for a necropsy to be performed on Sage in order to determine if any negligence on the part of The Mirage led to the animal's death.

At least 12 dolphins have reportedly died at The Mirage since 1990 from causes including pancreatitis, pulmonary abscess, respiratory problems, and pneumonia. In order to settle charges that it allegedly violated the federal Animal Welfare Act, The Mirage agreed in 2005 to make changes in the care that it provides to dolphins at the exhibit.

"The Mirage is gambling with dolphins' lives, and the dolphins always lose," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Dolphins and deserts don't mix. In the wild, dolphins swim hundreds of miles. In Las Vegas, their 'habitat' is measured in gallons instead of fathoms."

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- MGM Mirage officials are investigating the death of a dolphin at an aquatic habitat at The Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip.

Company spokeswoman Yvette Monet said Monday the female dolphin, named Sage, died Saturday morning and animal care officials were still trying to determine why.

The death was first reported by KLAS-TV in Las Vegas. Monet says the dolphin was born at the attraction in May 1997, and was 11 years old. She confirms it was the 11th dolphin death at Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat since the attraction opened with five dolphins in 1990.

The dolphin habitat offers tours to the paying public, birthday parties, "trainer for a day" and group tours. It can also be rented as a setting for private events.

Las Vegas hotel loses dolphin tenant!

2008-07-12T16:15:00.001-05:00

Eyewitness News has learned that a dolphin has died at the Mirage. The cause of death is under investigation.

"The Mirage lost a very special member of our family over the weekend. Sage, one of our female dolphins in the Dolphin Habitat, died Saturday morning. Sage was born in the Mirage Dolphin Habitat on May 21, 1997. Our Animal Care team is currently working to determine a cause of death," said Gordon Absher, company spokesman.

Correcting earlier reports, Absher says 13 dolphins have died at Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat since the attraction opened with five dolphins in 1990. He says that number included five that were stillborn or died shortly after birth.

The dolphin habitat offers tours to the paying public, birthday parties, "trainer for a day" and group tours. It can also be rented as a setting for private events.

Endangered river dolphin sold to feed villagers

2008-07-12T15:09:00.001-05:00

A Gangetic dolphin, which got entangled in a fisherman’s net, was sold at a local market in Behrampore on Tuesday. This in complete violation of the Wildlife Protection Act since the Gangetic dolphin is an endangered species.

During fishing in Bhagirathi river, Naresh Haldar found the dolphin in his haul. Instead of releasing it back into the water, Haldar took it to the local Gorabazar market. Locals alleged that the police did not take timely action against Haldar.

“When the policemen arrived at the market, the dolphin was still alive. They did not do anything and even failed to arrest the fisherman. The dolphin may have survived had the police intervened on time,” a local said.

Later, forest department officials also reached the spot. A case has been registered against Haldar, who is absconding. The dolphin’s body has been sent for the postmortem.

Young calf freed from debris

2008-07-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

Officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources say a young dolphin was rescued Tuesday in the Wilmington River after it was found with a rubber strap wrapped around its head.

No one knows how the dolphin became entangled in the rubber strap, but rescuers wanted to remove it to avoid a life-threatening injury. Members with several groups including DNR, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and Savannah State University, caught the young dolphin near Savannah yesterday and removed the piece of rubber.

The strap was cut off and vets examined the dolphin to make sure it was okay. Before being released back into the Wilmington River, scientists put a tag on the dolphin's fin.

DNR officials say the injured dolphin is an example of the growing problem of pollution in our waterways, adding garbage thrown into the water can seriously harm wildlife.

For more information visit the Georgia Department of Natural Resources at, www.georgiawildlife.com or the Debris Program at, www.marinedebris.noaa.gov.

Carcass of Striped dolphin washed ashore in Thailand

2008-07-12T14:50:00.001-05:00

The carcass of a female striped dolphin was discovered washed ashore at Baan Dan on Saturday morning – two days after 11 false killer whales beached at Koh Racha.Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) staff retrieved the dead animal and moved it to the PMBC at Cape Panwa after being notified by a villager at about 7 am.

An autopsy performed by PMBC staff yesterday revealed that the dolphin had sustained five broken bones around her neck area, likely caused by some kind of collision, which ultimately led to the animal’s death.PMBC veterinarian Sontaya Manawattana said, “She died two or three days before she was found. She had many injuries from fishing nets…

Her lungs were infected by parasites and she probably had no energy left to swim, so maybe a boat hit her and she died.“The carcass weighs 50 kilograms and is 1.9 meters long. She was three to five years old, which makes her a teenager for a dolphin,” he added.Less than 10 striped dolphins (stenella coeruleoalba) met their fate around Phuket’s coast in 2007. This latest incident marks the first reported death this year, K. Sontaya said.Striped dolphins are a common sight in the sea off Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi.

“If we start to find dead striped dolphins more often, then we would be very worried about this particular species,” said K. Sontaya.The striped dolphin is listed as “Conservation dependent” in the “Lower risk” category of conservation status as ranked by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Littering kills Risso dolphin!

2008-07-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

A dolphin which washed ashore in Bulacan about two weeks ago died over the weekend due to plastic products she ate near Bulacan shores.The said dolphin - a female Risso's dolphin (grampus griseus) - was found by a fisherman in Bulakan town trapped among mangrove rots of the Matilakin village on June 20.

It was brought to the Ocean Adventure Park (OAP) in Subic Bay Freeport for treatment but on Saturday or nine days after being brought to the OAP.Dr. Lemuel Aragones - an OAP consultant and an associate professor at the University of the Philippines' Institute of the Environmental Science and Meteorology who had named the Risso's dolphin "Rissa" - said she died over the weekend despite treatment at an intensive care unit designed for her rehabilitation.He said that the cause of death was due to occlusion (obstruction or closure of a passageway) caused by plastic products in the dolphin's stomach.

Aragones said that this disabled the dolphin from taking in food that caused weakness and eventual secondary complications.He said that after Rissa died, they conducted a necropsy and found plastics in her stomach.Aragones said that eating plastic caused the dolphin to lose strength and that it swam on the shallow area of the Bulacan Bay to breathe.

Aragones also said that there was a possibility that the dolphin was searching for food and ate what was available in the area which turned out to be plastic products which moves like a jelly fish or squid underwater.Due to Rissa's eventual death, Aragones called on local government units to strictly implement solid waste management and clean up local shorelines to save marine life.

Little girl starts talking and walking following dolphin therapy

2008-07-12T14:46:00.001-05:00

Four-year-old Simay was facing difficulties both walking and speaking due to a lack of oxygen delivered to her brain during her birth. She has now started walking after nine days of dolphin therapy.

Dolphins give life

Four-year-old Simay Aygün, who has trouble both speaking and walking due to a lack of oxygen transferred to her brain during birth, has started walking after nine-days of dolphin therapy. Three dolphins, three physiotherapists and three trainers work with the dolphins in a pool set, located in the front of a hotel.

After nine days of therapy sessions, little Simay has already begun to start walking and speaking. Simay's father stated that previously they had tried many different forms of therapy, throughout Turkey, but were unable to see any response: "my daughter could hardly speak and walk. Her perception was 1.5 years behind that of her peers.

As we were unable to see any results from other forms of therapy, we decided to give dolphin therapy a try. We started nine days ago and we have witnessed development. My daughter has started to both walk and talk. We will continue the therapy; I believe we will see a full recovery soon."

Australia: Local dolphins beaching themselves face mercury poisoning

2008-07-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

Australian scientists have found that mercury poisoning could be leading local dolphins to beach themselves. Ross Thompson and Alissa Monk at Monash University in Melbourne suggest that the mercury's neurological effects would include confusion and disorientation, causing the dolphins to strand themselves on the shore.

While dolphins are known to accumulate mercury through the fish they eat, Thompson's study is the first to compare mercury levels in beached dolphins with live animals from the same population. Thompson sampled dolphins living in the shallow, enclosed waters of Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria, Australia, finding that the beached dolphins averaged 3.45 milligrams of mercury per kilogram of body weight, over twice that of the live animals.

'The mercury levels we found in the dead dolphins were high enough to be causing quite severe neurological effects,' Thompson told Chemistry World. 'Even the levels in the apparently healthy population would be expected to cause immune deficits, at the very least,' he adds.

"The mercury levels we found in the dead dolphins were high enough to be causing quite severe neurological effects"- Ross Thompson The findings confirm earlier European studies on harbour porpoise populations, says marine ecotoxicology expert Krishna Das of Liege University in Belgium. But Das adds that it is very difficult to assess the effects of a single pollutant. 'Mercury could be a contributing factor to the dolphin deaths - but it is never acting alone as the animals have high levels of a lot of other pollutants,' she says.

Mining connection

Historical gold mining, which up until the 1930s used mercury in gold extraction, is the likely main source of the heavy metal in the waters, says Thompson. The mercury has gradually washed down the Yarra and other rivers, and accumulated in the sediments of the bay. Current dredging work could further increase mercury levels in the food chain, he adds. The mercury levels he measured were already higher than those found in dolphins in other populations in polluted waters around the world, from the Mediterranean to costal India.

As well as following the changing mercury levels as dredging continues, Thompson plans to examine how today's mercury levels compare with those of the past. 'We will test mercury levels in the teeth of museum specimens, which include dolphins from the late 19th century to the very recent, to see how mercury accumulation has changed over time,' he says.

As well as dolphins, Port Phillip Bay is also home to a colony of Fairy Penguins, but their mercury accumulation wasn't so high, probably because they feed lower in the food chain, and don't live as long. 'The penguins seem to be hit by zinc instead - the other main pollutant - but that's another story,' says Thompson.

Baby dolphin rescued by Florida team

2008-07-07T22:23:00.000-05:00

A picture was worth a young dolphin's life.

Researchers at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce were taking pictures for their Indian River Lagoon dolphin identification program when they noticed a calf they know as C1Bitt with a belt from an engine wrapped around it.

"We removed the belt before any serious medical complications arose," said Steve McCulloch, program manager of the marine mammal-stranding program at Harbor Branch. "It's more than likely it would have died a very slow and agonizing death over a long period of time, a very long period of time."

Last week, the baby and its mother, who may be pregnant again, were swimming along just fine.
"It's a pretty rewarding experience, what we're doing," McCulloch said.

Harbor Branch, now part of Florida Atlantic University, has a database of about 1,000 lagoon dolphins. The creatures tell researchers much about the health of the environment and how it is changing, he said.

McCulloch said four dolphins have been saved from entanglements and 12 others have been rescued and released in the area in the past 10 years.

The photo ID team first saw the young dolphin in distress on June 6 while it was swimming with its mother. The team attempted to stay with the pair, but they slipped away.

The mature female was first documented in 2001 and named Bitt after the natural nicks on her dorsal fin, and the calf was born about 2005.

They were spotted again on June 19 and the rescue was mounted.

Harbor Branch, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Marine Fisheries Service and Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute all sent personnel.

After more than 12 hours, the teams could not get the dolphins away from eight other dolphins swimming with them as they tried to maneuver the mother and baby into a safe, shallow area suitable for using a net. Just as they were about to give up and try again on the weekend, rescuers finally herded the pair onto a shallow sandbar.

Harbor Branch veterinarian Dr. Juli Goldstein examined the calf as his mother stayed close to the operation.

"Everybody was amazed to see the communication that takes place between the mother and baby," McCulloch said. "They were whistling back and forth in a comforting tone." It was as if the dolphins knew they were being helped, he said.

The rescue effort, estimated to cost $5,000, was funded entirely from the sale of Protect Wild Dolphins specialty license plates, according to Harbor Branch. The baby was tagged with a bright red marker to help with additional studies.

The population of the Irrawaddy dolphin takes a plunge!

2008-07-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

The most recent population survey of Cambodia’s Irrawaddy dolphins shows the dwindling species – its youngest generation in particular – remains imperiled. After almost 140 hours of dolphin-spotting on the Mekong River from Kratie to the Lao border, researchers estimate 71 dolphins survive, although the population could range from 66 to 86, according to the global conservation group WWF.

The survey – carried out during the dry months of April and May 2007, when the river level drops and the dolphins are concentrated in nine deep pools – counted markedly fewer specimens than a 2005 study that estimated a population of 108 to 146. Both high mortality and a new, more accurate survey methodology could account for the drop-off, according to Richard Zanre, WWF’s Freshwater Conservation Program Manager.

“The good news is adult mortality has reduced over the last five or six years,” Zanre said. He credited government and NGO efforts to curb the use of gill nets in the core habitat, including an official ban instituted last year and alternative livelihood programs for fishermen in the area. The nets are believed to have snared and drowned a significant number of the nearly 80 dolphins found dead in the past five years.“But the big concern is the calf mortality remaining high,” Zanre added. “We are also seeing what seems to be a drop in the birth rate.”

The exact cause remains a troubling unknown. Results from autopsies conducted on the tissue of dead calves have recently returned from laboratories in Canada and the US. They await analysis.Additionally, tests will be run on water samples to learn whether sewage, agricultural or industrial run-off could be hindering reproduction.

Another threat looms upstream, where the Lao government recently approved construction of a hydroelectric dam above the Khone Falls on the Laos-Cambodia border, Zanre said.Cambodia’s Irrawaddy dolphins, which range from Kratie to Southern Laos, are one of only three populations still in existence. The others survive in Myanmar and Indonesia. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed Cambodia’s dolphins as Critically Endangered since 2004.

Risso dolphin stuck in Glasgow river

2008-07-07T14:37:00.001-05:00

A dolphin that normally frequents the deep waters of the Atlantic has been spotted swimming in the shallow River Clyde in the centre of Glasgow.

The 10ft Risso's dolphin appears to be injured, with a gash above one eye, and has spent the past two days in polluted waters in the city centre.A marine mammal rescue group is hoping to usher it downstream and back out to sea, although an attempt last night to return it to deep water proved unsuccessful.

It was visible today just downstream from the rush hour traffic on the Kingston Bridge.
At one point yesterday it had a large empty crisp bag stuck on its fin.The unusual sight has attracted tourists and office workers to the river bank, but experts said the dolphin appeared "sluggish" and was moving slowly.

A team from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, helped by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, is planning to assess its condition before making another attempt to guide it to safety.

Nick Duthie, one of the volunteers, "Certainly, it's in a pretty compromised body state at the moment.

"It's very thin and it does have a number of cuts and grazes on it so we are quite concerned for its health."

Risso's dolphins normally feed on deep water squid and are rarely seen in shallow waters.
The dolphin was first spotted near the Faslane Naval Base further down the Clyde on Saturday before appearing close to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Dolphin calf rescued in lagoon!

2008-06-22T19:59:00.001-05:00

Scientists, veterinarians and research staff at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce rescued an entangled dolphin calf in the Indian River Lagoon near Melbourne on Thursday, officials said.

FAU Harbor Branch researchers first observed the calf on June 6, noticing that it had an automotive belt around its neck. Researchers made efforts to coordinate the rescue.The calf and its mother were isolated from other dolphins in the area and a net was set in shallow water so that they could be safely managed, treated and released by FAU Harbor Branch veterinarian Dr. Juli Goldstein.

The rescue effort involved six boats and 30 people.FAU Harbor Branch researchers rescued, treated an released a young dolphins back to its mother in May 2007.

New dolphin specie has been discovered in Australia!

2008-06-22T18:13:00.000-05:00

A dolphin species has been found in Tasmanian waters for the first time.

Four striped dolphins, normally found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, became stranded recently at White Beach on the Tasman Peninsula.

Local people and marine conservation officers were able shepherd them back out to sea.
Photos taken by locals later sent to the department confirmed that the dolphins' identity.
Marine Conservation Officer Isabel Beasley says the striped dolphin is visually spectacular, with dark black bands extending from the eye to the tail, and the eye to the flipper.

Dr Beasley says they probably came this far south because of warm ocean currents.

"They might have come down in a warm water current, perhaps, so they probably travel reasonably large distances but they probably wouldn't travel between ocean basins," Dr Beasley said.

Navy technology responsible for beached dolphins' death

2008-06-21T15:50:00.001-05:00

A Navy helicopter was using controversial sonar equipment off the Cornish coast days before 26 dolphins died in a mass stranding.

Officials at the Ministry of Defence admitted last night that the sonar "dipper", designed to hunt submarines, had been used by a Merlin helicopter on training exercise.

The mass dolphin stranding was the biggest in Britain for 30 years.

Four days later, the dolphins beached in the shallow Fal and Percuil rivers 60 miles away near Falmouth. The mass stranding last Monday was the biggest in Britain for 30 years. Conservation groups want a full investigation. Marine wildlife and underwater acoustics experts said loud pulses from the sonar may have scared or confused the common dolphins into Falmouth Bay, where they became disorientated. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph discovered that the sonar was being used as part of an exercise involving the nuclear-powered submarine Torbay and a number of surface warships.

The Merlin was equipped with a mid-frequency sonar dipper known as S2089, which is winched down into the sea to detect submarines beneath the surface. Mid-frequency sonar, which transmits pulses of sound just beyond the range of human hearing, has been associated with past strandings of marine mammals.

Research by the US Navy has blamed such sonar for whale strandings. Prof Rodney Coates, an expert on underwater acoustics who has investigated the effect of sonar on whales and dolphins, said middle-range sonars were powerful enough to damage an animal's hearing if it was close enough. "They can also have a behavioural impact that can lead them to swim into the shallower water."

Immediately after the dolphins died, military officials insisted that the only vessel using sonar beforehand had been a survey ship operating a low-powered seabed scanner. Later statements have contradicted this position.

Sarah Dolman, science officer at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "The Royal Navy activity in the days leading up to the strandings involved intense noise sources and this makes it a credible suspect."

Experts at the Institute of Zoology, who run the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Project (CSIP) are examining the dead animals. Rescuers saved seven of the stranded dolphins, but 24 died and two more had to be put down. The naval exercises took place south of Portsmouth and the S2089 was used on Thursday, June 5. The survey ship Enterprise was scanning the seabed using high-frequency sonar.

Prof Ian Boyd, director of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University and an expert on the effect of sonar on whales, said he did not believe the high-frequency sonar would have been powerful enough to harm the dolphins. He added, however: "There is a relationship between the type of sonars the military uses for hunting submarines and the strandings of some species of cetaceans."

Rob Deaville, project manager of CSIP, said: "The role of naval sonar is one of the things we will look at, but we are keeping an open mind. We have seen no evidence yet of physical damage in the animals we have examined so far."

A spokesman for the MoD said: "We are very confident that it is highly unlikely that Royal Navy activities resulted in what happened to these mammals."

Was the Navy responsible for the stranded dolphins?

2008-06-14T19:29:00.001-05:00

The death of dolphins in Cornwall has been likened to a "mass suicide" by a pathologist who examined their bodies.

Vic Simpson said the dolphins had swallowed a large amount of mud but tests revealed no signs of disease or poisoning.

"On the face of it, it looks like some sort of mass suicide - but the question is why?" she told local newspaper the Western Morning News."The dolphins had swallowed and inhaled big chunks of mud from the estuary. Their lungs and stomachs were full of it. That is very bizarre indeed."We have seen strandings on beaches, sometimes with five to seven dolphins - but never on a scale like this."

It comes as it emerged that the Royal Navy was carrying out live firing exercises hours before the 26 dolphins died.

Marine experts now believe the mammals may have been panicked by an "underwater disturbance".

Up to 40 dolphins were found beached at four spots around Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, on Monday in one of the UK's worst cases of mass stranding.

Yesterday, the MoD said that several ships and a submarine had taken part in exercises in the bay.
It is understood live firing went on for up to three weeks and was carried out during the day and night.

But the ministry said there was no live firing after Sunday midday. It added it was unaware of an explosion at sea reported by the public.

Alan Knight, head of British Divers Marine Life Rescue which went to the scene, said: "I believe there was some sort of disturbance that made the dolphins panic."

Scotland faces oil spill that may endanger the dolphins' habitat.

2008-06-14T19:04:00.001-05:00

WILDLIFE campaigners have voiced fresh fears for Scotland's bottlenose dolphins after an oil spill threatened their habitat.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is calling for the UK government to reject oil and gas licensing in the bottlenose dolphin Special Area of Conservation after oil washed up at Buckie, Moray, near the boundary of the dolphins' protected area at the weekend.

Talisman, the oil producer, admitted a spill at Caithness last month came from its Beatrice oilfield and is investigating to see if it is to blame for the latest incident.

A spokesman for the firm, which is paying for clean-ups, said: "We take our environmental responsibilities extremely seriously."

Pod of dolphins to be rescued!

2008-06-14T15:50:00.001-05:00

A rescue operation has been launced to save a pod of dolphins stranded in a Cornish river.Divers from across Cornwall and Devon are at the scene trying stop the sea mammals swimming to far upstream.

Some Dolphins have already died after becoming beached in Percuil River, near Falmouth.Their cries of distress are believed to have brought other dolphins to river and there are fears that they too could run aground.Coastguards said the first pod of dolphins swam up the tranquil river on the county's southern coast before getting into difficulty in Porth Creek.

Teams of conservationists, divers, coastguards and local government officials are now in the area attempting to send the remaining dolphins back out to sea.

Dolphin's death is under investigation!

2008-06-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

A DEAD dolphin has been found washed up on the beach at Whitburn.

The discovery was made by a walker near Whitburn Army Training Camp, off Mill Lane, yesterday, at about 10am.

Police were called and management of the incident was passed on to the National Trust.Investigations are under way to find out how the dolphin died.

Beached dolphin rescued by couple in Mexico

2008-06-07T16:41:00.000-05:00

A large male dolphin stranded himself Sunday morning May 18, 2008, on the coral on the beach just beside Villa La Bella, an American owned bed and breakfast, on Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Their quick actions resulted in a successful rescue and release.

One of the workers Luis Alberto Romero Trujillo at Villa La Bella spotted the distressed dolphin around 8:45 AM Sunday morning when he went to hang the hammocks in the yard overlooking the beach. He quickly notified Curtis and Ashley Blogin, American owners of the bed and breakfast, and the two raced to see what they could do to help.

Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.villalabella.com/" alt="Link to website">He seemed to know all along that we were trying to help

The dolphin was quite large, and the two could not move him at all. Curtis kept water on the dolphin while Ashley raced back to the house, gave directions to the location to the police, and phoned Pepe, the island vet. Curtis yelled for help from a small crowd that was gathering on the cliff above, and a couple of men climbed down the rocks to help Curtis get the dolphin back into the water.

Unfortunately the dolphin was so exhausted and disoriented that it was swimming sideways and kept running into the large rocks just off the shore. Ashley and Curtis got in the water and acted as human bumpers between the dolphin and the rocks; however, the dolphin finally found a sandy path to the beach and stranded itself again.

The dolphin had bite marks on his nose and tail as well as injuries from the coral on his side. While waiting for the Navy and other rescue boats to arrive, the island vet Pepe arrived and jumped right in the water, cowboy boots and all. Ashley, Curtis and Pepe kept the dolphin as comfortable as possible until two civil protection representatives arrived, and the group of five were able to get the dolphin back into the water and let it rest in their arms.

A Navy boat was first to arrive followed closely by the park patrol and a Profepa (government environmental impact) boat, and two divers with a harness headed for the dolphin. The harness was successfully attached, and although the water had gotten rougher, the dolphin never resisted.
"He seemed to know all along that we were trying to help," said Curtis.

With the harness safely attached the boat slowly led the dolphin to deeper water beyond the reef where they could remove the harness and lead the dolphin back to the south end of the island where a deep-water channel is located. By the time they got the dolphin to the Puenta Sur, the dolphin had time to rest, regain his strength, and swam away on his own.

While it is only speculation, the male dolphin appeared to be a 20- 25 year old male weighing more than 350 pounds. Based on the dolphin's injuries, he had been in a fight with another dolphin and sustained damage to his body and sonar, which is located in the nose. Between being exhausted from the fight and having his ability to navigate damaged, he beached himself accidentally.

For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release, contact Ashley M. Blogin or visit http://www.villalabella.com.

Villa La Bella is a boutique, oceanfront bed and breakfast located on Isla Mujeres just 8 miles off the coast of Cancun.

Contact:Ashley M. Blogin, Villa La Bella011-52-998-888-0342http://www.villalabella.com

Killer whales teaching their calves to hunt Common dolphins

2008-06-04T19:45:00.001-05:00

These spectacular images capture one of the rarest sights of the seas - a killer whale attacking a dolphin.

Dive expert Rainer Schimpf says both species are a common sight off Algoa Bay, near Port Elizabeth in South Africa, where he took the pictures.

For years he had heard fishermen's tales of killer whales (or orcas) coming to Port Elizabeth to hunt for dolphins, and decided to carry out his own research to find out if the rumours were true.

"Orcas are usually seen in Algoa Bay in the middle of April and spend around two weeks here," Mr Schimpf explains.

"At the same time around 1,000 common dolphins are also in the area so it is a perfect diving environment to see these amazing animals.

"However this year we noticed the common dolphins were more and more difficult to find.
"Then on May 2 a small group of common dolphins came towards the boat. As they came closer I realised something had been separating them."

"Shortly after I saw the first of five orcas - three adults and two babies," he said.

"More astonishing was the fact that they were playing with the dolphin, teaching their young how to hunt. The parents breached the water with the dolphins to show the baby how to kill and survive - the male orca even managed to snare one of the dolphins and feed it to his young.

"The whole act lasted around half an hour - it was an unbelievable sight."

Together with the Great White Shark, the Orca is the top predator of the oceans. Males can grow up to 26 ft long and weigh up to 8 tonnes, with their mouths containing up to 50 dagger-like teeth. However their common name is deceptive, as this cetacean is not a whale, but a dolphin.

They are known to usually feed on fish such as herrings, mackerels, salmons, tuna, cod, and even sharks. However there have been rare reports of orca attacks on sea mammals, like walruses, seals, dolphins and toothed whales such as narwahls.

Rescued dolphin makes new friends

2008-06-01T13:41:00.001-05:00

Exactly 402 days ago Alice the dolphin had just washed up on a Padre Island National Seashore beach, suffering from pneumonia on a cold and rainy April day.

On Wednesday, after more than a year restricted to a 40,000-gallon tank at the Texas State Aquarium Sea Lab, Alice will go to be with friends -- other marine mammals -- at San Antonio's Sea World of Texas, her caretakers say.

If somehow made aware of the move, she probably would celebrate by flapping enthusiastically against her tank's rubbing rope -- a toy she has adapted to since rehabilitating in captivity.
Alice was rescued from Padre Island National Seashore near Mile Marker 18 on April 7, 2007, said Heidi Watts, state operations coordinator of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Alice was taken to the Sea Lab, where she has been under the care of veterinarians and the 24-hour supervision of volunteers.

Between 100 and 200 volunteers have kept watch and company with Alice, spending thousands of hours looking after her in six shifts a day.

Despite recovering from pneumonia, Alice has continued to show signs of blood trouble and was not able to be taken off medication, Watts said. Officials decided it would be best for her to remain in captivity because her veterinarians and volunteers don't know what is causing the abnormal blood readings.

"We've just not been able to get her stable enough to maintain normal behavior," Watts said. "We basically did every diagnostic test and consulted with vets across the country, and no one can figure out what's wrong with her."

The move to Sea World will give Alice a chance to interact with other animals -- a necessity after being in isolation for a year, Watts said. Alice has stayed active during her year at the lab, especially taking a liking to rope she's able to scratch and slap.

Her personality is hard to gauge, in part because her human caretakers until recently were instructed to keep their distance in case she was able to be released into the wild.
"She kind of has her moments, and maybe like any other females, she is a little moody," Watts said.

Alice is scheduled to be transferred to Sea World on Wednesday.