Column: Horner On Climate, Dolphins & More

[Opinion column written by Patrice Horner]

Hurricane Impact On Ocean Mammals

Hurricanes are increasing in number, severity, and size as the ocean warm. The Tropics of the Atlantic Ocean posted an average of 80 degrees surface temperature this year which including Bermuda. The recent dual hurricanes Humberto and Imelda churned an estimated 320 thousand square miles [800x400 miles] of ocean. A study reported by Ocean Conservancy found when storms approach and barometric pressure drop, blacktip sharks swim to deeper waters during the storm. They use highly sensitive mechanoreceptors, located along their body, to detect small changes in pressure. Scientist Austin Allen notes, “While some fish can swim to deeper waters, most marine organisms remain to face the storm.”

Hurricanes can have harmful impacts on ecosystems. Fresh water influx from rain and runoff can change water salinity. A study by Florida Fish and Wildlife found that two hurricanes in 2004 caused a drop in salinity from 26% to 15% in the Indian River Lagoon. Runoff of fertilizer, pet waste and chemicals can help fuel harmful algal blooms, which can create dead zones and suffocate marine life.

Hurricanes generate massive waves that can reach up to 60 feet high and can affect ocean habitats 300 feet below the surface, per Ocean Conservancy. The huge waves can damage the structure of coral reef, sea grass, and shellfish habitats. Anemones and sponges can die when smothered by displaced sand or hit by tumbling rocks. Hurricanes can displace nearshore marine mammals from their habitat and alter the prey populations they rely on.

Dolphin Quest Global Conservation

Dolphin Quest has supported marine mammal conservation efforts since its founding in 1988. In 2022, Dolphin Quest added a specialized fund focusing on the protection of endangered small cetaceans, which is a big umbrella. Cetaceans includes ocean mammals of whales, dolphins and porpoises. The four main pillars of Dolphin Quest are animal welfare, conservation, scientific studies, and education. There are about 24 cetaceans that are threatened with extinction.

There are reports of Florida dolphins with signs of Altheimer’s due to exposure to glyphosate runoff from farming and other toxins in the water. They have Noah permits to work with the Galveston Bay project. It has some of the dirtiest water you can think of. There are sulfur pits by it and oil residual. They are using a fixed wing drone system in order to get close enough to measure their exhales. Small citations move fast and exhale differently than a whale. Dolphin Quest supported researcher Jason Brooke with our students very involved in this work.

The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin [Sousa plumbea] is the most threatened small cetacean in the Western Indian Ocean because of their vulnerability to gillnet entanglement. If the net is set 2 meters below the surface, the Dolphins can escape from the top. Coastal dolphins off Madagascar are endangered, including Indian Ocean humpback dolphins and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins.

Amazon river dolphins[Inia geoffrensis] are particularly endangered due to deterioration of their ecosystem. Prone to entanglement are Franciscana dolphins are cute small dolphin species that only lives in the waters of South America. That study attaches these fingers that put out high frequency sound. That make the dolphin not want to be there, but the fish can’t hear it, so they can still catch the fish. There are green lights hung on the surface

Volunteers are in the community working with fishers, and they found Franciscan were detected only 1% of the time with Nets around Nets with hangers versus 18% of the time and Nets. Here’s more workshops out by the community from that project. In western Greece in the Gulf of Ambracia, lives a species of small bottlenose dolphins, critically endangered subpopulation. Yeah, this this. Is a Bottlenose dolphin, so it’s the species.

There’s a subpopulation of 120 or so River dolphins in a small inlet that endangered. The Atlantic Humback is of the critically endangered species. There are fewer than 3000 found along the Whole West Coast of Africa. By-catch is the primary threat. There’s a consortium that’s been working for a few years on solutions. It’s estimated that up to 100,000 cetaceans are killed in those in the Indian Ocean.

Here more about the projects in the Amazon at Meet the Scientist on Thurs Oct 23rd at 5:30pm at the Media Lounge in Dockyard on Oct 23rd. Tickets available at Meet a Scientist.

Global Dolphin Quest Promotes Science In Bermuda

Dolphin Quest currently supports about 30 projects across 17 countries. There are such two projects in Bermuda, both are in partnership with Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program [SDRP], which provides expertise to marine mammal research groups around the world. They are testing heart rate tags here at Dolphin Quest before they can be deployed. Some of the research focus in on wild dolphins in Bermuda first. This project is a collaboration between Dolphin Quest and the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.

The first project is a long-term sightings history of the offshore bottlenose dolphins and beaked whales, known as the Bermuda Cetacean sightings. The idea is to collect location and population data to understand and protect them. Currently it has a catalog of thousands of photos spanning 22 years. They have identified 186 unique individual dolphins, tracked by marks in their dorsal fins. There have been re-sightings over years, up to 15 years apart. Some of them have been re-sighted 15 years apart.

Local boaters have supplied photos to the catalog, particularly Andrew Stevenson. According to Outreach Director Sundee’ Faulkner, “Dolphin Quest has and will continue to engage with various community partners, tour boat operators, fishermen and the general public to support this project by sending in their offshore photos.” The ultimate objective is to determine population size, structure, residency, and trends of both dolphins and beaked whales.

The second Bermuda project is intermittent catch-and-release health assessments, started in 2003. “These studies have been instrumental in our understanding of the health and remarkable physiology and diving capabilities of the offshore ecotype of bottlenose dolphins” explains Dolphin Quest Scientist Austin Allen. Satellite-linked tags temporarily attached to dolphins during health assessments recorded that these dolphins can dive more than 1,000 meters and hold their breath for more than 13 minutes.’

There are so many local specialists connected to the ocean. This includes the turtle project, two seahorse projects, as well as the sharks project, amongst others. Each is making significant contributions to ocean health. It’s a small community that sometimes works in silos with little capacity to take on more. Without a team approach there is a challenge for continuity as experts need to cover for others when necessary.

Bermuda needs a council of sorts, so people can share ideas and talk. It needs to be a productive endeavour, not to waste too much time in meetings. It could be proactive if we get this register going. It would be something that various experts could meet perhaps virtually or in person meetings on a quarterly or bi-annual basis to review the science and set priorities.

The Dolphin Quest projects are more focused on the cetaceans than on the habitat at the moment. One of DQ founders participated in a 2018 workshop, organized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s [ICUN] Cetacean Specialist Group, where they focused on methods to intervene to prevent eight species of threatened small cetaceans from going extinct. Dolphin Quest is directing funding and expertise to help protect these species before it is too late.

A new PhD coming from University of San Diego doing more microbiology as the new President of BIOS. There is a coral shelf around Bermuda which is full of microbiology. BIOS has historically worked in deep water, 8 kilometres out or 30 miles. There is a project on coral but overall the focus for BIOS research is in the deep. Because Bermuda is a small island, smaller projects make sense. There are successful seagrass, mangrove, and coral restoration projects in Bermuda as well. The ecosystems they create are supporting fish and turtles as well as other species.

Covering the range of habitats and species is challenging. There is also teaching and doing outreach. There is going to be overlap amongst the groups specializing in ocean science. Dolphin Quest educational field trips, youth camps and adult workshops to teach and to share information on a broad range of marine life, and of course cetaceans. BEST and Bermuda College sponsor lunch and learns, such as the recent Fisheries and Climate Change.

Outreach events, targeted to the broader community, include opportunities to learn about Bermuda’s global connections in conservation such as the well-attended screening of the American Humane “Escape from Extinction: Rewilding” documentary at BUEI in March and the regular “Meet a Scientist” Signature Event Series – the last onsite in May and the next upcoming one this week at Media Lounge in Dockyard on Oct 23rd. Meet a Scientist.

These and other philanthropic endeavors have been self-funded for almost 3 decades. With the growing interest in conservation and a caring public who want to support, the Dolphin Quest Conservation Foundation [DQCF] was launched, obtaining Bermuda charitable status on March 3rd, 2025 [Charity #1053]. The charity aims to expand the educational stepping-stones and career pathway opportunities for Bermuda residents, providing continued connections to fields such as marine research, conservation education or even veterinary medicine.

Cetaceans are at the core of every lesson that we teach and in every community outreach program that we offer, even if we’re doing a clean up. These community engagements are connected back to dolphins and other marine mammals. Dolphin Quest interactive lessons and youth programs provide an opportunity for visceral experiences that provide a deeper level of understanding. Understanding their anatomy, their physiology, and our effects on their lives is all part of the educational experience” while supporting local research aligns with the charity’s mission “to advance global conservation and science drive solutions for the protection of marine life and our ocean ecosystems.”

- By Patrice Horner with input from Sundee Faulker and Austin Allen from Dolphin Quest. Bermuda is working on a register for companies providing blue solutions. The register could also be an incubator for concepts needing nurturing. There will be a process of identifying and verifying projects that can be accreditive to ocean health. So much can be done to improve the ocean under Bermudas auspices.

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