CZS Sarasota Dolphin Program

Monday, June 4, 2007

June 4---Cold Water = No Dolphin Sightings

Yaana has moved back toward the mouth of the bay.

Dr. Bordino has been trying to get a visual on the tagged dolphins in the water...but the effort illustrates how tough it is to do this research. The weather was bad---actually below freezing yesterday---so the crew was unable to work. They will return for another try later in June.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

June 3 - Still Looking

Pablo and team will spend today searching for tagged dolphins, and then leave San Blas until about 17 June. Pablo is preparing an abstract for the Society for Marine Mammalogy biennial meeting in December in Cape Town, summarizing our initial findings from Samborombon and San Blas.

Friday, June 1, 2007

June 1 - Pablo is searching

Pablo and his team are out looking for Yaana and the other tagged dolphins. They have a mini-flotilla with four different boats. After 2 days on the water, they have found franciscana dolphins, but not yet the ones they are seeking. The weather and sea conditions have been far from ideal with storms in the area. And to complicate things, apparently some of the outboard engines on the boats have not been too cooperative...

Thursday, May 31, 2007

May 31, 2007

Yaana has moved near shore south of the mouth of the bay.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

May 30, 2007

Yaana remains about 17 km south of the entrance to the bay.

Science as it Happens!

Ranging Patterns and Habitat Use of Franciscana Dolphins off Argentina: 2008

In March 2008, Chicago Zoological Society conservation scientists Randall Wells, Jason Allen, and Aaron Barleycorn returned to Bahia San Blas, Argentina, to work with Pablo Bordino and his dedicated team of students, colleagues, and fishermen, and a veterinary team from Disney’s Animal Programs, to conduct additional satellite-linked tagging of franciscana dolphins. Building on the tagging and tracking work during 2007 that indicated a high degree of residency to Bahia San Blas over periods as long as six months, the next phase of the project was designed to address specific questions about:

1) what part of the water column the dolphins use – if the dolphins show preference for water of particular depths, then fishermen might be able to set their nets at different depths in order to avoid the dolphins. Up to three satellite-linked transmitters with time-depth recorders (TDRs) will provide information on the depths of dives as well as locations.

2) developing correction factors for aerial and boat surveys for dolphin abundance that take into account the dive patterns of the animals – the TDRs provide information on dive durations and time spent at specific depths where the animals might be visible to scientists.

3) social patterns – deploying tags with identical duty cycles, it is possible to determine if the animals exhibit a stable or fluid pattern of social associations, through examination of their location data to see if they remain together or separate. In addition to the location data from the TDR tags, as many as 5 location-only tags may be deployed. Genetic samples collected during the tagging process will allow determination of relatedness of dolphins caught together.

The first two transmitters, both TDRs, were deployed on a juvenile male (#42483) and an adult female (#42485) on March 4, 2008. As data are received from these and subsequent transmitters, they will be displayed on this site, as maps showing dolphin locations.

The radio transmitter ("tag") was specially designed for dolphins and weighs only 15 grams. The expected battery life is approximately four weeks, and the tag naturally falls off some time later.

Major support for this project was provided by the Chicago Zoological Society and Disney’s Animal Programs, with tags and tag data processing assistance provided by Dolphin Quest.