THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501050167
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
One thing that can be said about Virginia's dolphins is that they're somewhat predictable.
The results of the second attempt at counting dolphins off Virginia's coast last summer netted similar results to the previous year.
Volunteers counted 407 dolphins one Saturday morning last July. In July 1993, 347 were counted.
And, once again, the large concentrations of dolphins were observed around Cape Henry - known to researchers as Dolphin Disneyland - and in the southern end of Virginia Beach. Few were counted on the Eastern Shore and along the Virginia Beach's resort beach.
``I think it's encouraging that they're similar,'' said W. Mark Swingle, a marine biologist who heads the Virginia Marine Science Museum's dolphin research program. ``It tells us that our methodology is repeatable.''
In a four-hour period, more than 100 volunteers counted 579 dolphins, but many of those dolphins were counted twice as they moved from one study area to another.
With the duplications eliminated, the number was reduced to 407. During a one-hour period, the amount of time it would take for a dolphin to move between observation stations, 161 were counted.
But how Virginia fits into the rest of the East Coast has not been analyzed yet.
While Virginia conducted its count, volunteers dotted the coast from New Jersey to Florida counting dolphins. South Carolina counted 309. Delaware counted 50.
None of the other state's results are in yet.
Swingle plans on compiling and analyzing all the state's numbers and present them to the Dolphin Research Network during a conference in the spring.
Swingle suspects North Carolina, which has one of the longest coasts, has the greatest dolphin population. North Carolina always tops the list with the most number of dolphin strandings. Virginia is second.
``That's a good indication of the relative populations,'' Swingle said.
The Virginia Marine Science Museum has taken the lead in the effort to learn more about the number and migration of East Coast bottlenose dolphins, largely through Operation Dolphin. The program has identified more than 250 different dolphins in Virginia waters through research and photographs of their distinguishing dorsal fins.
Museum scientists also developed the protocol for the entire count. And Virginia was the only state in 1993 to cover its entire shoreline. Last year, South Carolina also made a coastwide count.
Virginia is a critical area for studying the movements of the coastal migratory dolphin population. South of Cape Hatteras, dolphins live near shore year-round. But in Virginia, coastal dolphins appear in May and leave in November.
The counts will help piece together the mystery surrounding the bottlenose dolphin, the most common, yet one of the least understood, marine mammals on the East Coast.
``This work is extremely important if we want to preserve and protect the species,'' Swingle said.
The bottlenose dolphin's population has been designated by the National Marine Fisheries Service as depleted, which is not as serious as threatened or endangered classifications. The designation was a result of the 1987-88 dolphin deaths in which about 750 dolphin carcasses washed ashore along the East Coast in the largest mass poisoning of marine mammals on record.
All of this data will be used to help the National Marine Fisheries Service develop a conservation plan to protect the species. ILLUSTRATION: Staff file photo by IAN MARTIN
Kathy Marchant counts bottlenose dolphin at Virginia Beach while her
husband, Bob, records the information. Volunteers from Florida to
New Jersey counted in July. The Marchants were among 100 trained
workers in Virginia.
by CNB