Figure 1.  Average number of dolphin sightings and total dolphins per day from November 2006 through October 2007.

Some pleasure boaters get a surprise show from “FB 127,” March 2007.  It is important that boaters remember that they are a guest in the dolphins’ home and safely admire them from a distance of at least fifty yards

      We have been able to continue our year-round monthly monitoring of the Sarasota dolphin community thanks to support from 15 Earthwatch Institute volunteers and NOAA’s Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Sarasota bottlenose dolphin community is one of the most thoroughly studied free-ranging dolphin populations in the world. We continue to address increasingly refined questions about the lives of these animals with the benefit of information gained through our intensive year-round studies of their distribution, social and reproductive patterns. 

Three generations together, May 2007.  “Scooter” and her yearling swim toward “Scooter’s” mother, “FB 79.”

      Photo-identification surveys were conducted on 117 days from November 2006 through October 2007 with the assistance of Earthwatch volunteers and undergraduate interns. These volunteers contributed over 2,500 hours to our project.   We had 813 group sightings that totaled 2,459 dolphins (including resighted animals).  Monthly values varied (Figure 1), but overall we averaged about seven sightings and 21 dolphins per day.  These values have remained fairly consistent over the past several years.  We had a high of 20 sightings with 56 dolphins on 25 October 2007, the last survey day during this time period.

“Casper” catches a mullet, March 2007.

      We documented 11 newborn calves during the spring/summer of 2007.  “Lightning” and “Killer” both had their seventh calves, “FB 79”  her sixth, and “Tramp”  her fourth.  Other 2007 mothers included “FB 55”, “Lizzie”, “Annie”, “ Big Shout”, “C99-1” and “Hawk”. “ Annie’s” calf, her second, is a fifth generation resident of Sarasota Bay.  Its great-great-grandmother (“Cathy”) is still seen in Sarasota Bay almost every month.  Unfortunately, “Lightning”, “Killer”, “Lizzie” and “Square Notch’s” calves have not survived.  During 2007, carcasses were recovered for three other dolphins with sightings and medical histories: “Remo”, “Beaker”, and  “F230”.  Of these, “Beaker”  was not considered to be a resident of Sarasota Bay due to an extensive sighting history to the south, and “Remo”  had emigrated to waters near St. Petersburg several years ago. In addition, “F201”, a yearling seen frequently in southern Sarasota Bay during December 2006 – January 2007, was rescued, treated for severe monofilament injuries, and tracked following release, but was only seen for about one month following release.

“Annie” surfacing with her second calf less than two weeks after it was born, July 2007

      Through our Earthwatch and NMFS-sponsored surveys, we have accounted for 145 recognizable dolphins using Sarasota Bay on a regular basis.  Another 17 dolphins seen in 2006 were not seen in 2007; if they are not seen in 2008, they will be scored as permanent disappearances, which could include death, emigration, or changes to identifying features. Thus, 90% of the expected residents were found during 2007 surveys. 
     We would like to thank all of our Earthwatch Institute volunteers for their interest in, and support of, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program over the past 26 years.  The August 2007 team was our final team through the Earthwatch program.

Table 1: Births, additions, deaths, and disappearances of well-known dolphins from Sarasota Bay and vicinity over the past year.