History

Dolphin die-off...
In 1987-88, approximately 50 percent of the inshore dolphin along the U.S. eastern coast died of a wasting disease associated with toxins. Human-generated chemicals discharged into the coast’s waterways may have contributed to the deaths. Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist, Beau Cutts reported this mass die-off. Alarmed that no organization or government agency had established dolphin residency and migration patterns on the 110-mile seaboard from Hilton Head, S.C., along the Georgia coast to Florida boundary, Cutts coordinated scientists and volunteers and formed The Dolphin Project.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Charles Potter, senior marine-mammal scientist at the Smithsonian Institution, was on the team that helped TDP leaders establish the scientific protocols, training classes and the geographic survey zones in the sounds, rivers and smaller tidal streams of the coast.

Using boats, TDP members travel in precisely established zones to count dolphin and record their behavior as well as photograph them. Repetition in surveying specific zones enables consistency in observations and facilitates comparison of findings over the years. TDP information is helping to document the dolphin population in the survey zones. TDP is able to get a relative abundance of these animals -- a comparison of counts over time -- It is complex to determine population since dolphin travel as they please. The largest concentration of the TDP data has come from the greater Savannah area.
When TDP teams are on the water, a record with each dolphin photo states the date, time, latitude and longitude. In this way we are able to compare multiple photos of a particular dolphin over time and learn the extent of its range and often the other dolphin with which it associates. Some dolphin along our coast are visitors, but primarily local residents are seen. Volunteers are on the water one weekend a month during 11 months of the year to photograph and take a census of the dolphins, also noting behaviour.

The Dolphin Project serves as the eyes, ears and hands of the professionals...
Dr. Potter stated he and other scientists are delighted to have trained volunteers perform the research. "They are citizen-naturalists who play an important role for pure science and wildlife management," he said. "They are the eyes, ears and hands of the professionals.
"We’ve had environmental change all along, but climate change and loss of habitat are occurring very fast now compared to the time, for example, of the last ice age. TDP members and other groups like them-- and not just for dolphin --can collect meaningful data needed by university professors and their graduate students. These citizen-naturalists are helping to educate our next generation of scientists. Federal and state agencies responsible for wildlife protection don’t have funding to obtain the research information they need", Potter said. "That’s even more so with today’s economy. So these volunteers are very much needed".

Scientific education not required...
Schoolteachers, mechanics, soldiers, lawyers and people from many occupations have joined The Dolphin Project and participated in the research. Retirees are especially welcome. TDP members do not swim with dolphin, feed them or touch them -- no unauthorized person should -- it is against the law. TDP non-invasive research is sanctioned by authority of a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The data and photos obtained by TDP survey teams are entered into the Mid-Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Catalog (MABDC) and OBIS-SEAMAP (Ocean Biogeographic Information System). This collaboration of research groups along the Atlantic coast means we can better understand resident and transient dolphin populations on a bigger scale -- from New York to Florida.

The Dolphin Project is the longest operated dolphin research program in the country staffed entirely by trained volunteers. There is deep concern for our environment and for protecting wildlife.The dolphin are the sentinel species of their environment, an environment that we humans share. If the dolphin are unhealthy, it holds true that other wildlife, including the water in which they live is also unhealthy. The need is there to monitor and protect the dolphin. The Dolphin Project serves this need.