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We don’t undertake such interventions lightly — rescues can be dangerous for dolphins and people, they are expensive and they are often logistically difficult to organize and conduct. We do these only when it has been determined by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service that the situation is life-threatening for the dolphin, and with their authorization.
While we think it’s important to save each individual animal we can, as scientists we know that it’s also important to evaluate the costs and benefits of these rescues and to determine how they impact a wider dolphin population. The ultimate goal for each intervention is that we want the animals to remain in or return to wild populations to survive and reproduce and have a good quality of life.
In 2021, we published the study “Staying Alive: Long-Term Success of Bottlenose Dolphin Interventions in Southwest Florida” in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. In the study, lead author and SDRP Deputy Director Dr. Katie McHugh evaluated the outcomes of 27 rescues conducted from 1985 through 2019. She found that:
- Nearly all rescued individuals — 92 percent — survived longer than six weeks post-release, with 13 still observed frequently within their prior resident communities, in good physical health, and engaging in normal behavior.
- Approximately 75% of rescued dolphins in our study survived over multiple years.
- Survivorship rates did not decline substantially between one and five years post-rescue, meaning that survival beyond one year may be a useful benchmark of long-term success.
- All living animals remained in their local communities, and rescued females that reached reproductive maturity had gone on to produce offspring.
- Most importantly, modeling of our data demonstrated that these individual rescues leverage population-level conservation benefits.
The birth of Nellie’s most recent calf provides further evidence that such interventions have a long-term benefit — not just for an individual animal like Nellie, but for the wider population —the entire Sarasota Bay dolphin community — as well.
I find that evidence professionally and personally gratifying, and I hope you do, too. After all, your support helps to make wild dolphin conservation here and around the world possible!
Here’s to fair winds and entanglement-free seas for all of our dolphin neighbors,
Randy Wells
P.S. We will soon be mailing out our annual publication of Nicks ‘n’ Notches! The report summarizes our previous year of research and other happenings at the SDRP. Look for your copy in your inbox later this month!
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