Research Field Notes: No. 6

6/26/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Pier (26°37′11″N 80°3′31″W)

Water conditions: 0-1’

Winds: SE 0-5

Duration: 8:30am-4:00pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Encounters: Three with a total of approximately 60+ dolphins. The first encounter was with tursiops (Bottlenose). This was a small group feeding. Encounter 2 was with a large group of stenella (Spotted dolphin). This group was very playful and was comprised of several mother/calf pairs! They put on quite the show with bow riding, wake surfing, tail slaps, all around the boat. This one went on for quite some time. The final encounter was tursiops again, but this time a very large group or 25+. This group of bottlenose was more cooperative with our boat and we got some nice shots. There were also babies in this group. One dolphin (Slappy) kept them all in line with tail slaps throughout the encounter.

[Personal notes:  SQEEEEEEE!!! Teeny tiny baby dolphins are so very cute!!]

Additional Sightings: We recorded approximately 32 sea turtles. We have also begun trash counts. Today we saw 16 trash items in the water. We try to recover these items and keep the plastic out of the ocean. Our big score this trip was recovering a large bunch of silver helium balloons. People should be aware that releasing balloons into the sky, usually ends up littering places that do not need any more trash. Shiny balloons look like bait fish sparkling in the sun. 

This is the perfect opportunity to talk about ocean plastics. Plastic is not like other kinds of trash. Trash bio-degrades. Plastic photo-degrades with the sunlight. This means it keeps breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. It never goes away. These pieces of plastic are ingested by animals and eventually kill them; the microscopic plastic dust attracts more debris resulting in huge garbage patches. Plastic does not belong in the ocean.

Other: Here is a short movie of the crew today. Unfortunately we have no dolphin footage again, but will try next trip to get it!! There are many jobs happening at once while we are on fins, so filming is not always possible [P.S. The survey boat is usually not moving this fast. It is harder to spot any dolphin if the boat is moving fast!].