Mote Marine Laboratory: Sarasota, Florida. This laboratory has the largest database of bottlenose dolphin information. They have been conducting research for 25 years and pioneered the use of GIS in studying cetaceans.

Image is an excerpt from the 1999 newsletter. Click image for source.

Cetacean Assessment and Ecology: A sub-group of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory. Based in Alaska, this laboratory is responsible for monitoring stock populations of rare whales such as minke, fin and beluga whales. They conduct their research using a wide variety of techniques including aerial survey, photo identification and tagging/telemmetry.

The image to the right displays 2001 survey data for beluga whale movement. Click on the image for source.

Necropsy of a stranded harbor porpoise. Click image for source and then click on "biology."

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute: Here's an excerpt from one of the marine mammal lab's abstracts:

"We applied GIS to identify and predict summer habitats of 13 common cetaceans (beaked whale, fin whale, humpback whale, minke whale, pilot whale, sperm whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, spotted dolphin, striped dolphin, white-sided dolphin, and harbor porpoise) in the mid-western-north Atlantic Ocean (from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to Nova Scotia, Canada). Applying GIS, track-lines and cetacean sighting locations of summer (June –September) sighting surveys data for 1990-1998 were associated with geographically and temporally corresponding oceanographic (sea surface temperature [SST], monthly probability of front occurrence) and topographic (depth, slope) data. "

NOAA Beaufort Laboratory: The Beaufort laboratory is monitoring the estuaries within the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They are monitoring bottlenose dolphin populations and fishery interactions. The author of the page, Amber Hartman, interned at the Beaufort Laboratory during the summer of 2000, and was involved in radio and satelitte telemetry, and database maintenance.

Picture of a live capture during which the dolphin is freeze-branded and tagged wth a radio and satellite transmitter. Click image for source.