Marine Ventures Foundation first investigated the dolphin tagging project when Don Hammond was running it from his position inside the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in 2003. Part of our due diligence was a visit to the SC DNR facility in Charleston, SC. It was an impressive program with all the key ingredients - high profile fish, almost no knowledge of the dolphin’s migration paths or spawning cycles, and an opportunity for recreational fishermen to get involved in a grass roots conservation effort. Unfortunately as an employee of the SC DNR, the data from any tagging effort was property of the state of South Carolina. MVF declined to participate in the study feeling that any conservation project and data obtained should be fully in the public domain.
We discovered that Don Hammond left SC DNR in 2005 to run the dolphin tagging study full time. We jumped at the opportunity to participate and fund the work. Since then we have been deeply involved with Don on the work and have completed two tagging expeditions with Don. The first to Exuma Sound in March 2007 and the second to Isla Mujeres, Mexico in June 2007. The crew of the Makara has tagged over 350 dolphin so far this year. An important part of the tagging program is recording all data at the time of capture and tag. Using handheld GPS units, we record the tag location, water temperature and depth and forward that information to the Don Hammond at CSS HQ in Charleston. We also record the tracks of the Makara which enables the development of fish tag/track maps which can be viewed via google earth. The real contribution to the conservation effort is not just where we catch and tag but where we don’t catch any fish. MVF has several more dolphin tagging expeditions planned for 2008. Stay tuned. Better yet, join the effor and tag with us.