Marine Mammal Expertise

Two weeks ago, the founder of MME flew from Belgium to USA, to train new students and staff at DISL. We had a great time on the boat, teaching photo-ID and data collection while developing a protocol for a new PhD project. Was great to be back in the field and meet with the new team. See you soon 🐬

03.04.2025 19:28 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Endangered Rice's Whale At Risk As Protection Efforts Are Rescinded After BOEM rescinded its protection efforts aimed at slowing ship traffic, there is little to save the whale from extinction.

Meanwhile, in the world of #whales -
Steps taken to reduce the likelihood of shipping killing individual Gulf of Mexico whales (Balaenoptera ricei) have been rescinded

~50 or so is the best estimate of the abundance of this species
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25.02.2025 20:12 — 👍 83    🔁 39    💬 7    📌 5

Trump Just Made Life More Dangerous for One of the Rarest Whales on Earth There may be fewer than 100 Rice's whales left in the Gulf of Mexico, but the Department of the Interior doesn't believe that should stop ships from traveling as fast as they choose.

Another piece, this time in @gizmodo.com by @adamjkovac.bsky.social on rescinding the protections for the #GulfofMexico whale.

Comment: Balaenoptera ricei is also the Gulf of Mexico whale. What did Dale Rice do to deserve the opprobrium of his name being tied to a whale that'll go extinct?
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27.02.2025 15:50 — 👍 19    🔁 10    💬 2    📌 1

Celebrating #InternationalPolarBearDay. The Southern Labrador Pack Ice Whelping Area Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) has habitat for polar bears, harp & hooded seals & is one of 43 IMMAs IDed in NW Atlantic & Wider Caribbean. www.marinemammalhabitat.org/factsheets/s... @erichhoyt.bsky.social

27.02.2025 11:06 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Dauphin Island Sea Lab Study Sheds Light on Bottlenose Dolphin Populations in Alabama Waters A comprehensive study by a team of researchers from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center provides the first directly measured abundance estimates of bottlenose do...

www.disl.edu/news/2025/da...

07.02.2025 18:36 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Abundance and Residency Patterns of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Freshwater‐Influenced Estuaries of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Multiple stressors are affecting common bottlenose dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico, including two embayments in Alabama, Mobile Bay (MOB) and Perdido Bay (PER), where no comprehensive abundan...

⚡️ New paper alert ⚡️ Check this out! After hundreds of hours on the boat and over 103,000 dolphin photos taken, we have the first abundance estimate of common bottlenose dolphins in Mobile Bay and Perdido Bay!
Super happy to also make the front cover of the journal. doi.org/10.1002/aqc....

03.02.2025 21:11 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

How lift-net fisheries affect cetacean ecology in Kaimana, Indonesia Cetaceans—marine mammals that include dolphins, porpoises, and whales—are crucial to coastal ecology. Their presence fosters carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling and redistribution, and control of c...

Exciting new research into the wonders of the KAIMANA WEST PAPUA IMMA.

Frontiers paper from our colleagues here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...

Read more by logging in to the IMMA e-Atlas on marinemammalhabitat.org

Bg story and photos here: phys.org/news/2025-01...

#dolphins #Indonesia

27.01.2025 10:43 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Fishing gears pose a deadly threat to marine mammals. Abandoned fishing gear is responsible for countless marine mammal deaths worldwide and is considered one of the most lethal human activities for marine life. Please bring your gear back home after fishing to protect these species.

16.01.2025 08:11 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

MSN

A great interview featuring Brian Quigley from National Marine Mammal Foundation, explaining the importance of photo-ID surveys on dolphins. We were fortunate to collaborate with Brian on our project studying bottlenose dolphins in Alabama (USA) 2 years ago. Have a look!

www.msn.com/en-us/video/...

06.01.2025 15:11 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0