South Florida Bottlenose Dolphin Photo-identification Cooperative

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for
monitoring the populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the
southerastern United States waters. The main goals of this monitoring are
detection of large-scale change in bottlenose dolphin abundance and
establishment of archival databases for long-term trend detection. In 1990, the
National Oceanographic Administration (NOAA), NMFS, Southeast Fisheries Science
Center (SEFSC) Miami Laboratory initiated low-level monitoring of bottlenose
dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Biscayne Bay, Florida using photographic
identification (photo-ID) methods to gather information on the numbers of
bottlenose dolphins that utilize this area. Biscayne Bay has been greatly
influenced by the development of the Miami area in the past 75 years.
Information from 12 years of photo-ID surveys has confirmed the presence of a
relatively large, long-term resident, core population of bottlenose dolphins in
the Bay. Their role as apex predators characterizes these animals as excellent
indicators of the overall health of Biscayne Bay. This dataset includes
sighting information for both identified and unidentified dolphins, dating from
1990 to 2004.