NOAA Fisheries Service, in partnership with the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, has awarded an $80,000 grant to scientists studying bottlenose dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Ph.D. Candidate Steve Shippee of the University of Central Florida Biology Department in Orlando, Fla., is leading the project with assistance from Randall Wells, Ph.D., of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program of the Chicago Zoological Society.
Scientists are examining the extent of dolphins stealing bait or catch from anglers, investigating mitigation approaches, assessing human impacts on dolphins and developing and disseminating educational information about harmful human-dolphin interactions. The research project focuses on northwest Florida and Alabama.
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
MASGC
