Dolphin Rescues

Bottlenose dolphins are threatened by monofilament or braided fishing lines in the water, and by crab trap float lines.  In 2011, operating at the request of Federal authorities, staff from the SDRP led or participated in 3 rescue attempts involving entangled dolphins. Most often, a dolphin requiring a rescue is entangled, and its swimming movements are restricted.

Often, lines cut deeply into the animals creating visible wounds that may become infected.Synthetic fishing lines, especially some of the newer stronger designs  are surprisingly sharp and dangerous when they come into contact with a dolphin’s soft skin.  An article summarizing dolphin rescue attempts from 2006-2011 is included in the recently published Nicks_n_Notches   newsletter (pdf).

While the need for a rescue attempt is often caused by fishing lines or rope, which is cutting through the skin, but in the case of Scrappy, it was a Speedo swim suit that caused life-threatening wounds.  The goal of a rescue is to free the dolphin from the threat, and each case is different.  Occasionally, as in the case of FB28, the line can be cut with a long handled tool from a boat, without requiring capture.

If capture is needed, however, the ideal solution is to briefly capture the dolphin, free it from the threatening condition(s), and release it after examination by a marine mammal veterinarian. If necessary, the rescue team must be prepared to transport the dolphin to Mote Marine Laboratory’s Dolphin Hospital for rehabilitation, and hopefully eventual release.

Leatherback turtle sanctuary set up on West Coast

Federal regulators designated nearly 42,000 square miles of ocean along the West Coast as critical habitat for the Pacific leatherback turtle Friday, far less than originally proposed but still the largest protected area ever established in American waters.

The protected area is the first permanent safe haven in the waters of the continental United States for endangered leatherbacks, which swim 6,000 miles every year to eat jellyfish outside the Golden Gate.
The designation, by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, was a bittersweet victory for environmentalists, who have been fighting to protect the marine reptiles from extinction.

The 41,914 square miles that the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service protected along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington did not include the migration routes the turtles take to get to the feeding grounds. That means 28,686 square miles of habitat originally proposed for the designation was left unprotected.
"It's a big step in the right direction, but we want protections for migratory pathways," said Ben Enticknap, the Pacific project manager for Oceana, an international nonprofit dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. "I guess we've got a lot more work to do to get there."

Healing the Gulf

From: Ocean Conservancy

Bethany Kraft: Restoring an ecosystem and a way of life in the Gulf of Mexico

If you wander away from the funky New Orleans vibe and make your way to the more secluded areas along the Gulf coast, you may happen upon a lone figure tromping childlike through the muddy marsh. You may see her watching hopefully to catch a glimpse of crabs and other critters skittering in the shallow water. You may see her deeply inhaling the thick salty air. You may see her stand – face to the wind – and smile, feeling grateful and energized. This is how Bethany Kraft unwinds. And it’s just one of the many reasons why she cares so much about protecting the Gulf of Mexico. As Deputy Director for Ocean Conservancy’s Gulf of Mexico Program, Bethany spends her days fighting to protect one of the country’s greatest national treasures – from marine life to coastal habitat and communities that have called the Gulf of Mexico home for generations.

Dolphins Pepe and Lucea reenact JAWS!

"Jaws Theme" Copyright 1975 by John Williams. The original soundtrack for Jaws was released by MCA Records in 1975

Luna the Dolphin Makes a Splash

Surfing with Pepe the Dolphin

Ziggy the Dolphin does a high jump

Play Ball!

In this video, I am training Nemo to catch and toss a ball. Notice on the left, further away, my colleague Ricardo is training Ziggy to do the same thing. Our goal is to eventually train Ziggy and Nemo to "play ball" by tossing the ball between each other and two trainers, and even a guest.

Training Nemo - UPDATED

Nemo is a very high energy dolphin, so we decided to train him to do a double-front flip rather than a single. To start training him to do this behavior, we focused on motivating Nemo following a target: a long pole with a little buoy on the end that Nemo follows, in this case, with his mouth or "rostrum." Our first step was to train Nemo to complete one rotation (flip) under the water’s surface. Then, after he understood what we wanted him to do, we added the second rotation. The next part of the process was to motivate Nemo to take the flip out of the water and follow the target pole. After Nemo learned to flip out of the water, we used the "bridge" (a whistle) and "primary reinforcement" (fish) to perfect Nemo’s double flip. One day, Nemo over rotated by an additional half-flip, and we decided to adopt this change in the criteria for the behavior: we decided to use the bridge and primary reinforcement to complete the third rotation. Now Nemo has the most amazing triple front flip. It’s WICKED!.