SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — The Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program is the longest-running study of bottlenose dolphins in the world. Launching in 1970, the research is invaluable in protecting this unique creature.
ABC Action News received federal approval to go on the water with the team. The research shows us that dolphins call Sarasota Bay home, living in the area and raising calves for generations upon generations.
"This really is their home across generations, across decades, we still have individuals that we've been seeing that I first identified back in the 1970s," Dr. Randall Wells, Director of the Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, said. "(We know) who they're related to, how old they are, what sex they are, who they spend their time with, or who they should be spending your time with, who's had a calf, what status, what the status of that calf might be, and what kind of activity they're engaged in."
Dr. Wells co-founded the program after starting as an assistant to Dr. Blair Irvine.
There are 170 resident bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay. Each has a unique story of survival.
"Her mother was orphaned when she was less than two years old. Her mother and his grandmother had a stingray spine that went into her spine and killed her, and that orphan made it and produced babies, and Annie is one of those," Dr. Wells said.
The team documents every aspect of their lives, from their population, health, offspring, sex, temperature, and salinity to how they interact with each other. The program was the first to document how male dolphins stick together in pairs for protection throughout their lives.
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska and photographer Reed Moeller received federal approval to get this close to the animals. All of the images in our report were obtained under "NOAA MMPA Permit No. 26622 issued to the Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program."
The average citizen can't follow and track dolphins the way researchers can. Even then, they are careful not to get too close or linger too long in any way that could impact their natural behavior in the wild.
What humans do on the water can significantly impact the lives of dolphins. According to Dr. Wells, an estimated 25% of all dolphin deaths can be attributed to humans.
"Pollution is a big threat to them," Dr. Wells told Paluska. "But, the biggest one that they face is from humans in the form of recreational fishing gear. Mote Marine Laboratory operates a stranding response program; they recover carcasses, and we help them do that. And then they analyze the cause of death, and the number one cause of death they've identified is recreational fishing gear."
Microplastics and forever chemicals are also found in nearly every dolphin sampled during health assessments. Plastic pollution is a big issue from Sarasota Bay to Tampa Bay. In a recent report, Paluska hit the water during a ghost trap rodeo, uncovering how big of a problem plastic pollution is in our waterways.
Increased water temperatures are also taking a toll on the dolphin population.
"We see higher mortalities and higher death rates in the summertime than in the wintertime by a lot. And so how many of those mortalities are due to complications from excessive heat in their bodies, we don't know. There are more pathogens in the water in the summertime; they've got to fight those off. There are a number of health issues that can come about from being in warm water and not being able to get rid of heat."
Then there are the red tide events. As hundreds of thousands of fish die from the toxic algae bloom, there are consequences across the food chain.
"With the 2018 and 2019 severe red tide, we saw a record number of shark bites on our dolphins," Dr. Wells said. "And we hypothesize that that may have been because of a loss of prey that the sharks would normally be eating."
We saw a dolphin in Sarasota Bay that had a gnarly shark bite.
The wild is challenging enough. Dr. Wells hopes their conservation efforts will inspire others to enjoy the water but do everything they can to protect the wildlife.
"You've been doing this for 53 years," Paluska said. "What would you like to see in the next 20 or 30? What's something you want to solve that you haven't experienced yet with dolphins?"
"What I really want to see is people caring more about the environment that dolphins live in and creating a safer environment for the dolphins, which then, in turn, becomes a better environment for the people to take advantage of for either working or playing out in this area," Dr. Wells said.