Dolphin Tagging Report - February 2011

[Gary Lavallee]

Dolphin and the Deep Blue
One of the first facets of dolphin life revealed by the
use of pop-off satellite tags was their use of the water
column. The depths to which dolphin dive and the time
spent at these depths came as a surprise to most
fishermen and researchers alike.
Earlier applications of satellite tags to dolphin have
shown the fish will dive as deep as 400 feet and use
deeper parts of the water column more during the night.
However, depth readings showed dolphin to occupy the
top 10 meters of the water column (surface layer) in 53
to 86 percent of the observations, indicating they still
spent the majority of their time at the surface.
Thanks to the efforts and financial support of the
Central Florida Offshore Anglers of Orlando, Florida,
the Florida Sport Fishing Association out of Cocoa
Beach, Florida, and the Sebastian Inlet Sportfishing
Association of Melbourne, Florida, a new behavior
pattern has been revealed. Terry Winn of Osteen,
Florida, spearheaded the effort to get the clubs to provide
funds to purchase two satellite tags and coordinated a
joint event where members from the three clubs worked
together to help catch the study animals in April 2010 off
Ft. Pierce, Florida.
(Continue Feb Report)