NOAA Funding to Support Bottlenose Dolphin Research


Articles Friendly Fungi 10 Questions on Vietnamese Fishing Communities Dr. Sharon Walker Wins Highest Honor from NMEA NOAA Funding to Support Bottlenose Dolphin Research Living Shorelines Workshop Scheduled for November Research Prioritization Workshops to be Held Throughout the Gulf of Mexico Region Featured Publication From the Director Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. Editor: Valerie Winn This newsletter is available in PDF format from: masgc.org/seabriefs MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium 703 East Beach Drive Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Phone: 228-818-8840 E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org MASGP 07-011-02	NOAA Funding to Support Bottlenose Dolphin Research In working with MASGC to reduce injury and mortality to bottlenose dolphins, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service is providing $80,000 in support of research aligned with the Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan (BDTRP). A competition will be held to identify projects that focus on innovative and practical methods to reduce human interactions with, and therefore impacts on, wild dolphin populations. Target audiences for presentation of the research results will be the scientists and managers responsible for reducing the bycatch of protected marine mammals, the conservation community interested in the protection of marine mammals, nature based tourism businesses and the fishing industry. Dolphins are known to depredate, or steal, both the bait and catch of recreational anglers. Frustrated anglers lose their catch, and wild dolphins are at an increased risk of injury from ingesting hooks and lures and/or becoming entangled in monofilament line. Several factors may influence this behavior. Dolphins may be competing for depleted fish stocks, or they may be attracted to fishing vessels because of the likelihood of catching easier prey. Other factors include the illegal feeding of wild dolphins. Dolphins are now associating people with handouts. A request for proposals to identify the causes of and minimize these interactions will be released this fall.