Dolphin Explorer Chronicles

With a little help from our friends...

Kent Morse

10,000 Island Dolphin Project

The last three months of intensive effort have produced a clearer picture of Seymour's range and daily movements, information that will be useful when the Marine Mammal Stranding Network goes into action on his behalf.  

Crucial to that success has been the help of the local community.  In order to fill out the picture of this dolphin's habits we have tried to put as many eyes on the water as possible.  On Several occasions The Rose Marco River Marina, where the Dolphin Explorer has its home, has made rental boats available to us at no cost so that we could have two or three boats out searching at the same time.  We had to cover a lot of water to eventually narrow the search area and this generosity on their part was a huge help.  The Marina also displayed our wanted poster of Seymour and on several occasions this produced valuable information.

On Monday, February 20th Captain Shannon Monahan who skippers one of the two sailing catamarans for the Marriot on Marco Island spotted Seymour and radioed the Marina. They immediately passed the information on to us.   It was fortuitous timing because James Livaccari and I were both at the dock and were able to hop in a gheenoe I recently purchased to extend our survey work and act on her information.  Within twenty minutes we were able to pick up the trail and conduct a five hour follow that added crucial information on Seymour's range.  Here is a file Download Feb.20Seymour that updates the previous Google Earth map with information we were able to acquire thanks to Shannon. 

Dave Strickland, one of our captains, arrived from Naples in the Miss D to help.  The addition of a second boat to the effort proved crucial - when James and I lost track of Seymour (easier than you might expect - especially as he moved in and out of canals and occasionally mixed with other dolphins) Dave would call to say he had him in his sights.  At one point he was milling around with a mother and her calf and sub-adult and these dolphins began travelling away from the area.  We followed thinking Seymour was with them, but once we caught up with them it was clear a fourth dolphin had joined this family's outing; Dave spotted Seymour back where we began.

Then, today, the Dock Master at the Esplanade, who also had one of our wanted posters, called me to say that his assistant had a definite sighting of Seymour in Smokehouse Bay - another piece of the puzzle and an important one, as our focus had shifted to the area of Sunday's follow.

Natalie Strom produced a nice article for The Coastal Breeze publication and I received a sighting call from a citizen as a result of that article.

A huge thanks to members of the local community for all their help.  And not just the local community - thanks also to the kids at Crafton Elementary School in Pittsburgh who have raised funds to help Seymour's rehabilitation.

Desperately Seeking Seymour

Kent Morse

10,000 Island Dolphin Project

Since my last update we have intensified our efforts to determine Seymour's movement patterns in preparation for his (or her) eventual rescue.  That a rescue attempt organized by The National Marine Fisheries Service will occur some time in the next month is all but certain - the success of that rescue will, of course, depend on finding the animal on the day the folks from the Marine Mammal Stranding Network move into action.

To that end we have attempted two focal follows of Seymour, the first such attempts at this type of observation for the 10,000 Island Dolphin Project.

Up until now our approach has been simply to document sightings of dolphins along a survey route or transect, stopping just long enough to collect photos and data before moving on to the next sighting.  In this manner we can amass data sufficient to document the individuals that compose the population, learn about the association patterns of individual dolphins and get a sense of their range over time.

Concern that we not become a nuisance to these animals or alter their behavior with our presence dictates that we keep these encounters as brief as possible.  Most guidelines for ethical marine mammal observation mandate that the vessel not spend more than thirty minutes with a particular group of dolphins; the average duration of our sightings is probably under ten minutes and sometimes we can accomplish our objectives in just a few minutes.

Given the life and death nature of Seymour's predicament, we have attempted on two occasions to stay within sight of him for an extended period of time that we might gain a more nuanced  picture of his movements and determine where he goes when not on our usual survey route.  The problem with Seymour is that while we see him regularly, often a week or more will pass between sightings and that is not good enough when contemplating a rescue.  According to Blair Maise Regional Coordinator for The Marine Mammal Stranding Network for NMFS , they are experiencing a record number or entanglements and their resources are stretched thin.  Those resources will be committed only when a reasonable chance of success exists.

Below is a screen shot from Google Earth showing the results of these two follow attempts and all sightings of Seymour in the last year or so. To view this on Google Earth and get access to the data relevant to the sightings, download this link.   Download SeymourSFH  

Large red targets show Seymour sightings in the last two months

Smaller green targets show sightings for the all 2011

The white line represents a follow of Seymour conducted by Chris Desmond, James Livacarri and Kristin Froehlich Monday, February 6; the yellow line represents a follow conducted by Kent Morse and Dave Strickland on January 15.

Our take from this history is that Seymour's likely location, when not in our usual survey route, is amongst the docks and canals of Marco Island seen here.  He spent much of his time as a calf along the sea wall on the north side of the Isles of Capri and while he no longer visits that spot, he may be particular comfortable with feeding along these barriers.  If anyone happens to spot Seymour along any of these docks let us know and of course if you spot Seymour or any other injured marine mammal the first call should be to The Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 1-888-404-FWCC.