Video

Dolphinfish Research Program Videos

One of the goals of the Dolphinfish Research Program is to educate the public about the dolphin's amazing life history and the need for conservation of this valuable resource. Dr. Wessley Merten, who has been working in dolphin research with this program for six years, has created two short educational videos about our joint research efforts. The first video was created to inform middle school students around the world about the work fishermen and scientists are doing together to describe the migration of the Mahi Mahi; the video is based on an article published in the Bulletin of Marine Science on the movements of dolphin relative to the Bahamas (Click here to read the article). It is one of the finalists in the Florida Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence 2015 Ocean 180 Video Challenge and has been aired to more than 50,000 students around the world. The following paragraph summarizes the video's content:

In the ocean there lives a fish known as the dolphinfish or Mahi Mahi. Very little is known to science about how they migrate. Fishermen are helping scientists to study their migration by catching the fish with fishing rods, placing fish tags in them, and releasing them back to the wild with hope that their fish will be re-caught by other fishermen and reported. By using this method, fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean have marked and released 15,499 Mahi Mahi and reported 420 recaptures (from 2002-2012). The recaptures show movements between the U.S. east coast, Bahamas, and Caribbean island nations. These movements when compared to ocean currents suggest Mahi Mahi migrate around the Atlantic Ocean. This information is important to show where Mahi Mahi might be caught along their migration and to discuss how the fish should be shared among the countries it visits in order to conserve it for the future.

Click this link to access the three-minute video or view it direclty below.

Wess also created a documentary about the program. In the documentary he touches on the importance of public involvement and how, through working with scientists, important information has been gathered on the life history and movements of dolphinfish throughout the western central Altantic. The documentary examines the program's conventional and satellite tagging programs as well as the results of a population structure study done on dolphinfish in the region. In addition, the documentary includes a segment on the development of recreational big game fishing off Puerto Rico and the important role dolphinfish play in their fishery.

This is a very informative 20-minute documentary packed with action that I know you will enjoy. Click this link to access the video

I hope that you find these videos entertaining and informative. This is another dimension of the research program that many have not seen.

Good fishing,
Don

Donald L. Hammond
Director
Dolphinfish Research Program
Cooperative Science Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.Dolphintagging.com

Mahi Tagging Program - Florida Keys