SeaDoc supported a project to assess the health of Pacific white-sided dolphin populations by using photo-ID to estimate survival and abundance.
Erin Ashe, a PhD student at St. Andrews University, has digitized more than 2,000 historically-collected white-sided dolphin photographs and is beginning the process of comparing them to photographs taken more recently. We thank all of the volunteers who submitted dorsal fin photographs to Erin. We also encourage any of you who have photographs and have not submitted them yet, or who see these terrific marine mammals and get good photos, to please submit them to Erin. If you are in BC we ask that you also submit them to the BC Cetacean sighting network.
Remember that it is ILLEGAL to approach within 100 meters of a Pacific white-sided dolphin or any other marine mammal, even for the purpose of taking pictures. So keep your distance. For more information on this project or on how to submit photographs, see:
http://www.seadocsociety.org/dolphin-study
Project Status: SeaDoc has received the final report from this study. (6/2013)
Photo by J. Gaydos.