jayemdoubleyou

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shark & ray assessments🚤🦈🌊 1. reading dart tag # 2. weighing 3. measuring

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toby💛

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pink?

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shark tagging and data collection

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marine biodiversity lab

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LUSH bath melts make me soft as a flower (touch a flower petal, they’re soft I swear)

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My First Dolphin Rescue: January 25, 2017

I woke up at 4:00AM with 5-6 hours of sleep. I left FAU at 5:00AM exactly with my friend, and roommate, Kaitlin. We met up with our boss, Elizabeth Titcomb, about 20 minutes away from school so we could all drive together to FAU's Harbor Branch campus. It was an hour and a half drive, and we stopped for breakfast on the way. The sun still hadn't come up yet, but the moon was so beautiful. We got to Harbor Branch's research and rescue boat marina just as the sun was rising around 7:00AM. I was surprised to see people from multiple organizations, all coming together to save one baby dolphin. Harbor Branch's photo ID and rescue teams, SeaWorld rescue, SeaWorld Hubbs, Clearwater Aquarium, Georgia Marine Aquarium, FWC, and maybe others were all there. We split up into our separate groups and all had assigned areas of where to start looking for our troubled calf. The people on my boat were Kaitlin, Elizabeth, a grad student named Rachel, and Marilyn, the founder of the photo ID research/nicest person ever. It was a foggy morning, and we couldn't see more than 40 feet around us as we made our way down Indian River Lagoon. The water was like glass and the sun was rising through the fog as we slowly drifted south. Eventually the fog cleared and we made it to our starting point. The three students were assigned different parts of the center console boat to stand at on the lookout for dolphins. Elizabeth took the camera as our photographer at the bow, and Marilyn was the driver. After about 30 minutes of looking the first group was spotted. Elizabeth took photos and identified the dolphins, seeing if the mom, Reel, and her injured baby were present. We saw so many dolphins, some even played with us around the boat. A few more groups joined the party, we ended up finding Reel and her calf, and confirmed the baby had line wrapped around its pectoral fin and body. We called in for back up and all the other boats came, but kept their distance. SeaWorld rescue boat and our boat were the two mains boats in the rescue. We were in charge of ID and tracking, and everyone else would do the work on the dolphins. Although we found the dolphins, we couldn't just jump in right away. We had to make sure they were separated from a group and in shallow enough water for rescuers to stand. Reel and her calf liked the deep waters and were very popular. They kept finding new groups of dolphins to hang out with, which made tracking them very difficult. We ended up spending about 6 hours just trying to keep track of her and her baby, and trying to find shallow water to push them in to. Elizabeth and Marilyn said that was the longest amount of time they had spent tracking a dolphin, partially because it can be so difficult. Thankfully the weather was perfect and our team was awesome. Throughout the day we had to deal with tourists, boaters, and disrespectful tour guides on the water getting in our way. FWC had an officer following us to keep them away, but he was kind of slacking. At one point we had to yell at the dolphin watch tour guide for getting way too close, but he claimed he wasn't doing anything wrong. We also had to deal with no bathroom breaks, which meant we had to lean off of the boat to pee or just hold it for 10 hours. The sun was also intense and my face got very burnt. At some times it was freezing, but if you sat directly in the sun for 5 minutes you'd start sweating. Everything was worth it though. Once Reel and her calf finally found some shallow water, SeaWorld made their move. They dropped the end of the net into the water and sped around the two dolphins creating a large circle. The dolphins hit it and it was confirmed that we had the right dolphins, and that they were definitely inside the net. The other rescue boats made their way closer and people started getting to work. Rescuers from every boat got in the water and wrapped the dolphins in the net right next to each other. They weren't calm, and Reel wouldn't give up. The baby's lines had been wrapped around its pectoral fin and body, and left some wounds, which were treated with antibiotics. There was also evidence that the line had also been around its mouth and other pectoral fin. If the line hadn't been removed, as it grew, it would have developed internal issues, swimming issues, and probably wouldn't have survived. My heart broke when I heard the mom and baby communicating as they were both very scared. They had no idea that we were only helping them until the end. It was a rough release; some people almost got slapped in the face with their huge strong tails, but other than that they made it out together. Our boat tracked them a little longer to make sure they were together and healthy. When all the boats made it back to the marina we did a debriefing. The guy in charge of Georgia and JP from SeaWorld spoke about what happened, why, and how to improve. JP also recognized the work of our boat, as no rescue would have happened if it wasn't for us. Everyone applauded for us as I tried not to cry. JP also came up to Kaitlin and I afterwards and said we did a very good job and he hoped to see us next time. Elizabeth also wants us out on the boat more often, but we have to work out some things with our professors. The drive back was quite; we were all exhausted. The sun was setting, which meant we literally spent all day rescuing the baby dolphin. I can't think of any better way to spend my days.

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California

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Dolphin Research job is so chill: listening to some reggae, eating oreos, gettin paid

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A post shared by Persian Chinchilla 🐱 (@12catslady)

He touched the butt.

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fishing line

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11/14/16: woke up at 5, met a nice man and his dog, liberty, at the beach right before the sun came up, new friend kate arrived at the beach, we picked up trash off of the beach, did some yoga, picked up more trash, took some pics, and picked up even more trash, then chilled, talked, swam, talked, relaxed; as we were leaving we saw an injured brown pelican, so we called a bunch of people, tried getting help and one of the lifeguards dislocated his shoulder, waited around for more help, saw a flock of invasive green parakeets, kept an eye on the bird, and finally kenny the bird man came, found another bird that was injured, captured both, and brought them to busch rehab center, kate and i left to eat at subway, i went to manny's, and made vegan quesadillas

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11/14/16

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study spot 11/12/16