VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR DOLPHIN COUNT
Tired of mundane vacation activities? Baltimore Aquarium has a solution -- spend day counting Atlantic bottlenose dolphin population
LISA CAPITELLI n Staff Writer
Jen Dittmar of the Marine Animal Rescue Program, left, joins volunteers and staff from the Baltimore National Aquarium and MARP on the beach at 40th Street last year during the annual dolphin count. Today, volunteers will search for Atlantic bottlenose dolphin along Maryland's 26-mile coastline during the aquarium's 12th annual event. (July 17, 2009) The public will have an opportunity to assist Baltimore National Aquarium representatives today (Friday) during the 12th annual dolphin count in Maryland.
Residents and visitors are invited to help measure the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin population by counting them as they appear along the 26- mile shoreline during a threehour period.
The beach count locations in Ocean City will be at 40th and 130th streets. A third location will be at Assateague State Park, next to the youth camping area. Anyone interested in participating in the count should meet before 9 a.m. at any location and look for people wearing blue aquarium Tshirts. Volunteers are encouraged to take binoculars.
The count will take place from 9 a.m. until noon.
The beach count allows the public to learn about the ocean environment while also helping scientists measure the dolphin population. Between 30 and 40 members of the public took part in the dolphin count last year.
"We invite the public to join us at one of those sites," said Jennifer Dittmar, stranding coordinator for the Marine Animal Rescue Program, the centerpiece of the Aquarium's ocean health initiative. MARP rescues, rehabilitates and releases marine animals. "It's a great opportunity for us to interact with the public and get them involved, have oneon one discussions and answer any questions they may have."
Representatives aboard a Coast Guard boat will also conduct surveys offshore. The boat survey will allow volunteers to see the dolphins up-close, examine their behavior and estimate their ages.
"The Coast Guard boat does one sweep of the coast and provides more of an accurate count because it is less likely they will encounter the same group of dolphins more than once," Dittmar said following last year's event.
The count is used as a "snapshot" of dolphin health. Each year the count is conducted, it provides the aquarium with additional data the scientists can use to compare and track the dolphins' longterm population fluctuation.
Scientists also look at age (adults, young of the year and neonates) to determine reproduction rates, which, in turn, provides long-term information about dolphin populations, migration and ocean health.
Last year, volunteers and staff from the aquarium, the Marine Animal Rescue Program and the United States Coast Guard, in addition to the public, counted 66 dolphins along the Maryland coast during the three-hour study. There were a quite a few young calves swimming within the groups spotted, a good indicator of a healthy population, Dittmar said. Counters not only looked for fins, but also noted the direction the dolphins were swimming and what they were doing.
In previous years, participants have come up with fluctuating numbers during the dolphin count. From 1998- 2008, the numbers logged were: 184, 31, 206, 265, 9, 119, 110, 159, 66, 17 and 66, respectively.
The dolphin count is the culmination of a series of activities scheduled during the aquarium's "Beyond the Boardwalk," a celebration of the ocean environment. Those events took place last month in Baltimore.
Additional information is available online at www.aqua.org.
