disaster, but rather a red flag that should be further investigated with the goal of producing a better data set. It is important to determine how Gulf dol- phin stocks relate to Atlantic or Caribbean dolphin stocks, which will help determine if dolphin in the Gulf stay put during their life cycle or are highly migratory. “Nobody really knows how dolphin move in the Gulf,” says Hammond.
STAY OR GO?
There is a lot of room for improve- ment in the Gulf for Hammond’s Dolphin Research Program, with only 37 dolphin being tagged and released in the Gulf during 2010. Gulf currents are highly variable, and predicting where the dolphin are swimming is impossible without tagging and recov- ery data. Tagging volunteers are what Hammond needs the most. “If Gulf dolphin prove to be seden-
tary, then we can condense the user groups that are targeting them and simplify a management plan,” says Hammond. “But if dolphin are moving through the Gulf and into other areas, then a more regional management plan would be called for.” If dolphin are prone to staying in the Gulf during their entire life cycle, then an event like the BP oil spill could crash the dolphin fishery since the fish gener- ally live only about four years. New for 2011, Hammond will partner with Dr. Greg Stunz at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Fisheries and Ocean Health program graduate student Peter Young to undertake a two-year study on Gulf dolphin. The study will call for dolphin tagged all along the coastline of the Gulf in order to set up movement pat- terns on tag and release charts to deter- mine if the fish swam across the Gulf or simply cruised the coast. Don Gates of Conroe, Texas is
The data sets do not confirm a bonafide dolphin disaster, but rather a red flag that should be further investigated with the goal of producing a better data set.
TIDE
average total dolphin harvest during the 1990s was 606,912 fish. The average dur- ing the 2000s fell to 395,259 fish, includ- ing a precipitous decline in 2008 – 2010. “The West coast of Florida is the dominant consumer of dolphin in the Gulf and can be as much as to 90 per- cent of each year’s harvest,” says Hammond. “Louisiana for
instance,
has less emphasis on targeting dolphin via trolling, because anglers tend to pay attention to the offshore oil rigs.” He is quick to point out that the data sets do not confirm a bonafide dolphin
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already a Gulf tagging partner, having recently moved from Florida, where the dolphin-tagging program is rela- tively well-established.
“I first met Don Hammond when he came to speak to our Central Florida Offshore Anglers club in 2003, and I have been tagging dolphin ever since,” says Gates. “Now that I live in Texas, it is important to me to raise awareness about the Gulf dolphin tag- ging initiative.”
Having tagged more than 1,200
dolphin over the years, Gates has adopted a smooth routine that usually
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