A pilot project to study bottlenose dolphin depredation of fishing gear off Tampa Bay’s Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier
By Robin Perrtree and Kim Bassos-Hull, MSc

PEEP swims amongst fishing lines near the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier on March 6th, 2006.

In late summer 2005, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) was informed of complaints about dolphins stealing bait and catch from fishermen at the South Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier. A quick search on an internet chat room used by these fishermen found many complaints, rants, and even threats aimed at the animals. We notified National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) staff based in St. Petersburg and in Silver Spring, MD of the problem, and met with Florida-based staff at the South Pier in November to determine the scope of dolphin depredation. Based on this scoping trip and subsequent discussions, SDRP worked together with NMFS to design and implement a pilot study at the pier. On February 16^th staff from SDRP and NMFS began patrolling the pier on foot, talking to the fishermen, and watching for dolphins. We collected data on the number of anglers, the number of lines in the water, the number of boats fishing near the pier, and the number of fisherman that had a dolphin depredate their line or engaged in feeding dolphins off the pier. In addition, we attempted to get photographs of the dolphins seen by the researchers. When an angler reported a depredation event or a researcher observed an interaction, we asked additional questions about what kind of bait or catch was on the line, if gear was lost to the dolphin, and how the angler responded to the situation.

MLHS with hooked spanish mackrel near the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier on April 20th, 2006.

In ten days of walking the pier between February 16^th and April 24^th we collected reports of 141 current interactions between the fishermen and dolphins and many more historical accounts. Of those, there were 99 incidents of bait stealing, 37 incidents of catch stealing, and five interactions of unknown type. Anglers reported losing gear in 21 cases, four of which the line was cut by the angler, showing that the dolphins seem to be quite adept at taking both bait and fish off the line without getting hooked. Some of the fishermen reported that when they saw dolphins or had a dolphin steal from them they would move to a different location or remove their line from the water for a while (often around 20 minutes or until they no longer saw the dolphin in the area). However, other anglers (especially visitors to the area) continued re-baiting their hooks and fishing in the same place, often inadvertently and sometimes intentionally feeding the dolphin repeatedly. Two hundred and sixteen dolphins were seen from the pier by the observers (with many of those repeat sightings of a few individuals) over the course of the ten days of effort. Photo-identification of those dolphins that were close enough to the pier to get pictures showed at least 20 different animals, including several that seemed to frequent the pier area. One individual, PEEP, who was new to SDRP but has been identified previously by the Eckerd College Dolphin Project was seen on nine of the ten days we were at the pier. Two other known SDRP animals, MLHS and FB68, were seen six days each. A total of 12 previously cataloged animals were seen at least once from the pier, including one named WILL who was subsequently found dead with fishing gear in his mouth.

TPSP mouthing depredated grouper with lure still attached near the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier on March 3rd, 2006.

This pilot study clearly showed that there were frequent interactions between dolphins and fishermen at this site. Currently there is much frustration from the fishermen who have their bait and catch stolen and dolphins are getting injured and killed because they are ingesting or getting entangled in fishing gear. As a result of this study and recent mortalities of dolphins from fishing gear in Sarasota Bay, NMFS and the SDRP have recently produced and released an official “Best Fishing Practices for Avoiding Interactions with Wild Dolphins”. These guidelines will be distributed to and hopefully adopted by fishermen to help alleviate this problem for both the fishermen and dolphins.