Murdoch University scientists have produced world leading research which promises
to save the future generations of Cockburn Sound’s resident dolphins.
Biologists Dr Hugh Finn and Ms Bec Donaldson collaborated for over a decade in doctoral research that established the feeding behaviour, reproduction rates, mortality and behavioural traits of 75 resident bottlenose dolphins at Cockburn Sound.
The research, which is now being used for education and conservation awareness programs, finds that effective control measures are needed to limit human activities such as feeding of dolphins.
The research is unique in that the dolphins have been closely observed since 1993 when Ms Donaldson started her work.
“It is natural for humans to want to interact with dolphins, but activities such as feeding a dolphin can interrupt their normal foraging behaviour ”
Dr Hugh FinnDr Finn, who began studying the Cockburn Sound dolphins in 2000, said the collaborative research found that feeding dolphins interrupted their normal foraging behaviour. This resulted in increased injuries and deaths and had the potential to affect the dolphin’s breeding activities. He said around 20 per cent of the Cockburn Sound dolphin population was now displaying a ‘food begging’ behaviour.
This tendency to seek free feeding experiences culminated in more injuries and deaths as dolphins became entangled in fishing lines and propellers.
“It is natural for humans to want to interact with dolphins, but we now know that activities such as feeding a dolphin can interrupt their normal foraging behaviour,” Dr Finn said. “We also see these dolphins moving away from normal social activities which are essential to the reproduction cycle of the species.”
“To protect dolphin populations we need to understand the intricate relationship between biology, ecology and sociology of the dolphins individually and as a group.”
