This year we are participating in #GivingTuesday! This is a global day of giving that takes place December 1. That's in less than a week! All #Giving Tuesday funds will go to helping save Abaco's dolphins, and our goal is to raise $38,220.
In other news, our manuscript detailing the rescue, rehabilitation and release of the Atlantic spotted dolphin, Lamda, was published in Aquatic Mammals. Importantly, this study shows that Lamda spent time in an area in the southern Bahamas where there is test oil drilling scheduled for December; see https://ourislandsourfuture.org/. BMMRO has joined the coalition to oppose the oil drilling operation. See news story here.
We are also co-authors on a feature article in the Marine Ecology Progress Series, showing how high quality habitat such as off south Abaco, is so critical to beaked whales. This habitat is now under threat from an over sized and poorly planned proposed development. Their EIA is available for public comments, due 3rd December.
Since our last newsletter we returned to the Sea of Abaco for four days on the water to continue our post hurricane Dorian work assessing the status of the bottlenose dolphins. We saw over 20 individual dolphins including a newborn calf and more animals known from the Sea of Abaco from the early 1990's! With the help of the Perry Institute for Marine Science, we also retrieved and redeployed our sound recorders in south Abaco recording ship traffic and sperm whale presence to document their overlap.
Finally, we were awarded another National Geographic grant, "Anthropause: Hush hear the whales sing". We will use the sound recordings collected on our south Abaco recorders together with ship traffic data from our Automated Information System, to create high school level educational materials to highlight how Covid-19 is impacting the environment.
Happy Thanksgiving, thinking of all we have to be grateful for!
Please join millions in a national day of giving on Dec. 1.
Lamda, the Atlantic spotted dolphin, on his way to being released into the wild after his rehabilitation. Thank you to our co-authors from the Wild Dolphin Project, the Dolphin Communication Project, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and Dolphin Cay, Atlantis.
Thanks to the Devereux Ocean Foundation, Marsh Harbour Boat Yard, and the Cooke's for their support of the Sea of Abaco work, and to PIMS for their support in south Abaco.
A sperm whale beginning a foraging dive in front of a cruise ship in south Abaco.
