Biscayne Bay Dolphin Photo ID System

It has been shown through a variety of photo-identification studies that populations of bottlenose dolphin inhabit the various embayments along the coast of Florida.

Knowledge of population stock structure is critical to developing management plans and understanding how stressors impact individual populations.

Researchers have found that photo-identification is one of the best ways to study populations of bottlenose dolphin in near shore environments. Unlike aerial and ship-board surveys, individual dolphins can be identified and tracked temporally and spatially, giving investigators a more comprehensive picture of population stock structure

The bottlenose dolphin is a heterogenous species found throughout temperate and tropical waters. In past years, aerial surveys, photo-identification studies, and, more recently, genetic studies have begun to divide this worldwide species into population stocks. In 1998, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reported to the Marine Mammal Commission that there appears to be at least four discrete population stocks of bottlenose dolphin in the U.S. Atlantic waters:

a nearshore migratory population that migrates seasonally between North Carolina and northern Florida; year-round resident populations in coastal embayments; an offshore population inhabiting deep water; and an intermixing resident and migratory population that overlap seasonally.

Don;t know who to assign to this as contact is deceased

Dolphin sighting surveys are conducted by boat. Environmental conditions are recorded and linked back to sightings of individuals, which are identified by photos, which are also stored in an Oracle database.