2 Celebrating 50 years of conservation, research, education, and action October 3rd, 2020, marked the 50th anniversary of the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population, conducted by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. On that day in 1970, Blair Irvine attached the first tags to Sarasota Bay bottlenose dolphins, taking the first step that led to demonstrating the local dolphin residency that has been key to all of the research that has followed in Sarasota Bay. Much more on the history of the program appears in the pages of this special issue of Nicks’n’Notches. While we had planned to hold an in-person symposium in Sarasota in October to reflect on decades of scientific findings and celebrate with the friends and colleagues who have made this work possible, the pandemic forced us to take a different path. With the recorded or live help of 25 of our colleagues and collaborators from around the world, we instead held a virtual celebration to mark the official date (recording available at: https://vimeo.com/frontpageprod/download/464727198/74e1a913bc); we hope to hold the in-person symposium within the next year, as the celebration continues. We are also editing a special topics issue of the journal Frontiers in Marine Science entitled: “The Dolphins of Sarasota Bay: Lessons from 50 Years of Research and Conservation,” expected to consist of 25 peer-reviewed papers by colleagues, staff, and students, to be published in 2021. As we celebrate the accomplishments and amazingly productive (and fun) collaborations we developed during our first 50 years, we also look toward the future. We look forward to continuing our existing research and education partnerships, and implementing new ones with institutions such as New College of Florida. We look forward to further developing and refining some of our new field techniques, and expanding our ecological studies of Sarasota Bay, as you’ll read about in the following pages. Most of all, we look forward to the opportunity to continue to learn about the dolphins of Sarasota Bay, who we have gotten to know so well over the past half-century, and applying what we learn to their benefit, and to help with dolphin conservation elsewhere around the world. We are extremely grateful to the Chicago Zoological Society for their support of the program for the past 31 years, and for their commitment to our future endeavors. And thanks to all of you for caring about the dolphins of Sarasota Bay, Director, Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program In This Issue Our Approach Toward Helping Dolphins ....................... 4 Ecology, Population Structure and Dynamics ............. 37 Year in Review .................................................................. 5 Tools and Techniques .................................................... 42 Conservation Research and Action ................................ 9 Education, Outreach, and Training ............................... 46 Behavior, Social Structure, and Communication ......... 14 Products ......................................................................... 53 Health and Physiology .................................................... 16 Program Operations ...................................................... 56 Dolphin Rescues, Releases, and Follow-up Monitoring 22 Opportunities For You to Help ...................................... 58 The Half-Century in Review ........................................... 24 3 Our approach toward helping dolphins Our desire with each research or conservation project in Florida or elsewhere is to contribute to a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of populations of small cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and porpoises), as well as the natural and anthropogenic factors (factors of human origin) that impact them. We use an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach in conducting studies of bottlenose dolphins within a unique long-term natural laboratory. The primary goals of our program include: (1) collecting biological, behavioral, ecological, and health data of importance to the conservation of small cetaceans, especially bottlenose dolphins, (2) providing requisite information for bottlenose dolphin conservation to wildlife management agencies, (3) disseminating the information generated by our program to scientific and general audiences in order to aid dolphin conservation efforts, (4) using our model program to develop and refine hypotheses regarding bottlenose dolphins in other parts of the species’ range as well as other species of small cetaceans, (5) using the established natural laboratory to develop and test new research tools and methodologies of potential benefit to conservation efforts, (6) training cetacean conservation workers and students from around the world in the use of these techniques, (7) applying our unique expertise to dolphin rescue operations and post-release follow-up monitoring, and (8) applying the information we gather from free-ranging dolphins to improve the quality of care for dolphins in zoological park settings. The collaborative work done toward achieving these goals is conducted under the umbrella of the “Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.” This name links the efforts of several organizations and individuals that work together to insure the continuity of the long-term dolphin research in Sarasota Bay. The SDRP has been operated by the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) since 1989. Dolphin Biology Research Institute, a Sarasota-based 501{c}3 non-profit corporation established in 1982, provides logistical support with its fleet of small research vessels, vehicles, computers, cameras, field equipment, etc. Since 1992, the program has been based at Mote Marine Laboratory, with office, lab, storage and dock space within the resident Sarasota Bay dolphins’ home range. The SDRP maintains academic connections including providing graduate student opportunities primarily through the University of Florida, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Duke University, and undergraduate opportunities through a number of schools, including New College of Florida. All of our dolphin research in the United States is conducted under NOAA Fisheries Service Scientific Research Permit No. 20455 and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approvals through the appropriate institutions. Contact us: The Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program 708 Tropical Circle, Sarasota, FL 34242 USA Tel: (941) 374-0449 [email protected], www.sarasotadolphin.org 4 The Year in Review Some of our accomplishments, by the numbers SMM past-president Randy Wells served as both a scientific Randall Wells, Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota program committee member and chair of a plenary session Dolphin Research Program on Conservation Interventions. Staff Scientist Reny Tyson- Moore co-coordinated a workshop with Kim Urian from Duke The “natural laboratory” situation of Sarasota Bay University (former SDRP lab manager and grad student) facilitates cutting-edge work done by a diverse group of focused on applying automated systems for dorsal fin specialists who complement the expertise and interests of matching. While most professional meetings such as these the SDRP. Over the years, staff, students, and collaborators have been suspended or moved online during the global have produced more than 325 peer-reviewed publications, pandemic, we very much hope that it will be safe to bring 4 books, and more than 100 technical reports, and we have people together again for the next biennial conference, made more than 660 presentations to scientific audiences, scheduled for December 2021 in Palm Beach, Florida. students, stakeholder groups, and the general public. Perhaps the most meaningful component of our legacy, though, involves training the next generation of conservation leaders. To date, 41 master’s and 50 doctoral students have benefited from SDRP data collection opportunities, data, samples, or guidance. In addition, about 400 undergraduate interns have received multi-month training by the SDRP. Foreign participants in our training programs include 70 of the interns, along with 30 post-graduate scientists and 108 health assessment project participants, from 45 countries. A number of the alumni from our training programs have moved into key positions in wildlife management, at NOAA and the Marine Mammal Commission, and elsewhere around the world. The accomplishments of the program over the decades reflect the efforts of many: staff, students, volunteers, and collaborators, and the long-term support of several key individuals and Former CZS-SDRP students and interns reunited during the WMMC in organizations. Barcelona in December 2019. Sarasota Dolphin Research Program participation in the World Marine Mammal Sarasota Dolphin Research Program project Conference summary Katie McHugh, Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Randall Wells, Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program Dolphin Research Program In December 2019, the Chicago Zoological Society’s The events of the past year have influenced the activities Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (CZS-SDRP) staff of our research program. While we have been awarded and students, along with our colleagues from around funding for a number of research, education, or conservation the world, had a major presence at the World Marine projects, the pandemic has forced us to postpone or cancel Mammal Conference (WMMC) in Barcelona, Spain – a several of the larger projects, including