Satellite telemetry of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) captured, tagged, and released in Barataria Bay, Louisiana and near Dauphin Island, Alabama from 2018-07-10 to 2019-04-10

Wildlife biologists used single-pin dorsal fin mounted satellite transmitters to track the movements of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) captured and released in Barataria Bay, Louisiana (BAR) and near Dauphin Island, Alabama (DAU). The BAR health assessment was performed for 10 days (10 – 14, 16 – 20 Jul 2018) during which 34 dolphins were captured (♀ = 13, ♂ = 21) and 19 were satellite tagged (♀ = 6, ♂ = 13). The DAU health assessment was performed for 8 days (20 – 21, 23 – 28 Sep 2018) during which 17 dolphins were captured and satellite-tagged (♀ = 9, ♂ = 8). In BAR, KiwiSat tags transmitted for a mean of 75 ± 46 (SD) days with a mean of 184 ± 151 cumulative quality locations. In DAU, SPOT satellite tags (♀ = 9, ♂ = 8) transmitted for a mean of 153 ± 37 (SD) days with a mean of 607 + 214 cumulative quality locations.