Outer Banks Center for Dolphin Research

Outer Banks Center for Dolphin Research Update Vol.1

Members of the OBXCDR attended the annual SEAMAMMS conference at UNC Wilmington from Friday April 3rd to Sunday April 5th, 2009. OBXCDR members included Jay Taylor, Jessica Weiss, and Karen Clark. The conference spanned a day and half and included oral and poster presentations on research of marine mammals along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. as well as the U.K. and Canada.

Earth Day Education

Education and awareness of bottlenose dolphin conservation is an important mission of the OBXCDR. On Earth Day, April 22nd 2009, OBXCDR Scientific Advisor Jessica Weiss, gave a presentation to 6th grade and 8th grade science students at Manteo Middle School about marine mammal conservation and research. Students learned about the environmental and human-induced threats that face bottlenose dolphins in the Outer Banks as well as the ways that photo-identification techniques are used to identify marine mammal individuals. Students even tried their own hand at identifying dolphins from our catalog using photo-id! Most were successful in identifying our local dolphins, such as Onion, and enjoyed learning about dolphins.

Bottlenose Dolphin Winter Sound Surveys Update

Now that winter is finally over, the OBXCDR has finished our first official winter field season! Winter surveys were conducted once a month in Roanoke Sound to search for any bottlenose dolphins residing in the cool sound waters from October through April. Our frigid days out on the water were rewarded with a sighting of two dolphins on February 8th, heading south in Roanoke Sound towards Oregon Inlet. The two appeared to be a mom and calf pair, however, this is yet to be confirmed. Now that summer is finally here, OBXCDR will increase survey effort and continue to document the presence of dolphins in Roanoke Sound.

Volunteers Needed!

The OBXCDR is seeking members to volunteer on the survey boat to assist with dolphin research this summer. We will be holding a membership/volunteers meeting at the KDH library on Tuesday May 26th and Tuesday June 2nd in order for members to sign up for shifts this summer. Surveys will be conducted once a week and 1-2 volunteers will be needed for each survey. Surveys are weather-dependent and will likely begin early in the morning (8 am) and last approximately 4-6 hours. If you are interested in volunteering this summer, please attend this meeting so that you may sign up for a shift and complete a boating waiver. We will also present some useful facts about photo-id and general boating knowledge.

OBXCDR Summer 2009 Field Season is Underway

Onion’s group is back! Onion is one of our seasonally resident coastal migratory dolphins that lives in Roanoke Sound during the summer months and migrates to Beaufort, NC to overwinter. Several other dolphins have been sighted in the Outer Banks during the summer and in Beaufort during the winter. Two of these dolphins, Scarlet and Vidalia, have already returned to the Outer Banks and were sighted on May 22nd. Examining the residency patterns of bottlenose dolphins in the Outer Banks is a major focus of our photo-id research.

Salty Paws Dolphin Cookies

The OBXCDR will be teaming with Salty Paws Biscuits this summer to sell dolphin-shaped doggie cookies. Salty Paws will provide the venue for making and selling the cookies and will also gather the supplies for the dough. Cookies will also be sold at Chip’s Wine and Beer and Kitty Hawk Kites. But we need to volunteers to cut the cookies into the dolphin shape and package the cookies as well. Salty Paws will donate the profits from the cookies to the OBXCDR. If you’d like to be a doggie cookie baker for a day, please attend our membership meeting to sign up for shifts this summer.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.