Populations

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Some of the most pressing questions in conservation biology concern the health of populations.  “Population” refers to all the animals of a given species that live in the same geographical area and that form an interbreeding community.  Should a species be listed under some environmental legislation?  Should we allow hunts of healthy populations?  Is a species likely to go extinct?  These fundamental questions that inspire us rely on having good information about how many animals are in an area, and whether that number is going up or down.  We specialise in low-cost and creative methods to provide that information.

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It’s that time of year again.  Pacific white-sided are making appearances in the waters throughout the Pacific Northwest.  Last month, Knight Inlet, BC was bursting with Pacific white-sided dolphins and we were there to collect ID photographs, acoustic recordings (Click here to listen) and prey samples.

Soon after our Knight Inlet trip ended, our colleague, Dr Andrew Wright, photographed a group of dolphins in Howe Sound, between Vancouver and Bowen Island!  He took some beautiful photographs, and a few of the individuals bear distinctive markings.  Now, thanks to the support from the SeaDoc Society, we are doing the painstaking work of comparing his few mug shots to our catalogue, to see if there are any matches between dolphins in the Broughton Archipelago and those using the Salish Sea.  In fact, our partnership with SeaDoc has inspired us to take a transboundary look at our cetacean conservation work more generally.

Which reminds us, if you spot any dolphins, we are very grateful for any opportunistic photographs of dolphin dorsal fins.  This is what a dolphin ID shot looks like:

but, please, only try this at home if you have a really long lens.  Remember that the “Be Whale Wise Guidelines” also apply to dolphins, so please remember to remain at least 100 meters/yards away.  Thanks!