WORLD DOLPHIN DAY 2025 and BMMRO NEWS

September 14, 2025 by Rolling Harbour

WORLD DOLPHIN DAY 2025

September 12th is the day chosen by Sea Shepherd to raise awareness and promote the conservation of dolphins. It was established on the one-year anniversary of the killing of 1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands, which was the largest single slaughter of cetaceans in history.

As many will know, the marine mammals of the Bahamas – whales, dolphins and manatees – are researched and protected by the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation. It was established more than 20 years ago by Diane Claridge and Charlotte Dunn. Based for many years in Sandy Point, Abaco, the organisation has recently extended its operations to an office in Marsh Harbour.

BMMRO has a wide remit in marine mammal research and education. Young children are given an opportunity to learn what lies beyond the seashore. Older children have opportunities for combining learning with fun at the summer Whale Camps. There are learning groups and talks, and all schools are welcome to participate.

Plans in progress include establishing Whale Camps on other islands, such as Long Island and Eleuthera. There has also been outreach to Exuma and the Berry Islands.

At a more advanced level, BMMRO provides outstanding opportunities for older students to increase their knowledge and skills, to take these to higher education, and to prepare them for the life of a marine mammal researcher.

BMMRO has recently produced a comprehensive Field Guide featuring all 27 marine mammal species found in Bahamian waters. These give a great deal of information and are readily available.

You can find out more about the nature and scope of the work carried out by BMMRO HERE . The speed of the development of sundry critical threats to the world’s oceans and their denizens has been astonishing. It is now irreversible. Fortunately the number of ocean research and protection organisations has increased significantly as the situation worsens. Please consider making a donation to support the work of BMMRO, or (for those elsewhere in the world), to the marine mammal organisation in your area.

LEAD SCIENTISTS: Diane and Charlotte – pioneer researchers in the Bahamas over 4 decades

All Photos: @BMMRO

LINKS: BMMRO . MM SIGHTINGS . WHALE CAMP 2025 . ROLLING HARBOUR

Credits: BMMRO . Rolling Harbour / Keith Salvesen

WORLD DOLPHIN DAY 2024

September 12, 2024 by Rolling Harbour

September 12th is the day chosen by Sea Shepherd to raise awareness and promote the conservation of dolphins. It was established on the one-year anniversary of the killing of 1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands, which was the largest single slaughter of cetaceans in history.

As many will know, the marine mammals of the Bahamas – whales, dolphins and manatees – are researched and protected by the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation. This was established more than 20 years ago by Diane Claridge and Charlotte Dunn.

You can find out more about the nature and scope of the work carried out by BMMRO HERE Please consider making a donation to support the work of BMMRO, or (for those elsewhere in the world), to the marine mammal organisation in your area. Dolphins increasingly need protection from mankind and human activities. A donation would greatly help provide it.

All Photos: BMMRO

DOLPHINS DISPORTING IN THE BAHAMAS

August 3, 2017 by Rolling Harbour

DOLPHINS DISPORTING IN THE BAHAMAS

‘Disporting’. Not a word I’ve used very often. Or possibly ever. It looks a bit like ‘unsporting’, which is emphatically what dolphins are not. Basically, it just describes what dolphins are doing when you see them on the surface: amusing themselves, frolicking around in the waves, and simply enjoying themselves.

True, they are probably keeping an eye out for food… But when you have a group sociably following alongside the boat your are in, moving in front, dropping behind, diving under, and generally playing around, it’s quite hard to believe that these are completely wild creatures. They seem to be performing just for you, simply because they want to. You don’t even have to throw fish at them to earn this free display.

As is well-known, the BAHAMAS MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (BMMRO) is the custodian for the welfare of these beautiful creatures for the entire Bahamas. However, being based on Abaco and carrying out the majority of the research from the HQ at Sandy Point means that many of the great images that get taken are from Abaco waters. Indeed some are taken within swimming distance (not mine) of the shore.

The photographs featured here were taken during the last few weeks. Some are of the familiar bottlenose dolphins. The others – with speckled undersides clearly visible in the header image & below – are of Atlantic spotted dolphins. There’s even one of my own taken from the research vessel.

For the researchers, the most important part of an individual dolphin is its dorsal fin. Unique patterns of cuts and scars mean that each dolphin sighted can be logged and their profiles built up. Some have been found in the same area for many years. They are not usually given jocular names – ‘Davy Jones’, ‘Finny Phil’ or whatever. The first time we went out on the research vessel we were slightly surprised by the practical, scientific calls during a sighting of a dolphin group: “there’s B4 again” and “over there – D5 is back”. All said fondly however – many of the dolphins are old friends.

This dolphin has a notable notch on the dorsal fin with a nick below, & a scar line – with a prominent white scar on the lower front edge

Notice how these 3 dolphins all have quite different fin profiles. The nearest one’s fin looks unblemished, but has a paler tip. Powerful binoculars and a serious camera can pick out small differences at a distance that the eye could not Bottlenose Dolphin, Bahamas - Dorsal Fin Damage (BMMRO)

Coming soon: Manatees & Man in the Bahamas

All photos (bar one by me) BMMRO, with thanks to Diane & Charlotte, and a tip of the hat to the current interns involved in the research projects (Hi, UK Thomas!)

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS IN ABACO WATERS (PART 1)

March 27, 2015 by Rolling Harbour

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS IN ABACO WATERS (PART 1)

This seems to be a excellent early Spring for dolphin and whale sightings in Abaco waters. I’ve noticed that people have been posting dolphin sightings on FB recently. In our brief window of opportunity each March, I usually reckon to see 2 or 3 dolphins at most – maybe crossing over to Hope Town on the ferry, or more probably on a fishing trip. This year we saw 2 groups of about 6 off Cherokee while fishing, including calves. On another day, 4 adults made a leisurely progress the whole length of Rolling Harbour while we watched from the balcony of the Delphi Club. I don’t think they have ever been so close to the shore there before. The best was to come.

Near the end of our trip Charlotte Dunn and Diane Claridge invited us to go out with them on the BMMRO research boat. This is equipped with a hydrophonic system that can detect the bleeps, whistles and clicks of cetaceans, and record them for comparison with previous data. This enables particular animals to be identified from their vocalisations. The other method is to note particular features of an animal – damage to a fin, markings on the flank and so on. During the day C & D happily conversed in code: “Is that 132 over there?” “No, it’s got a nick in the fluke, it must be 127…”

As we returned in the RHIB from an amazing day spent at close quarters with beaked whales [more on these soon], we moved from deep dark blue ocean to sandy turquoise shallows. There, just off Rocky Point (near BMMRO HQ at Sandy Point) were half a dozen bottlenose dolphins, including a mother and calf. This post contains a small batch of photos of adults – there’ll be another post shortly featuring the calf…

Here’s a taster for the next post – the calf, just visible close alongside its mother, was being given leaping practice. Watch this blog…

All photos RH. Huge thanks to Charlotte, Diane and Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation BMMRO for a truly wonderful day (and for my cool sweatshirt!)