The latest news from the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program
Remembering Ralph Arden On Feb. 6, 2026, we were saddened by the death of our friend and longest-serving volunteer, Ralph Arden, after an extended battle with cancer. Ralph first engaged with the SDRP as a volunteer in 1975, by way of being one of my college roommates and a sailing buddy. Ralph (pictured
A team uses a seine net to capture fish in Sarasota Bay. The fish are released after they are catalogued as part of our prey fish studies, which began in 2004. Notes from the Lab and Field: Prey Fish Surveys Help Us Understand Dolphins Did you know that
Notes from the Lab and Field: 2025 Dolphin Community Update January 2026 Happy New Year! A new year begins, and we have been able to conduct the first of our Sarasota Bay monthly dolphin surveys under excellent conditions, before the arrival of a series of cold fronts with strong winds. I’m pleased to
Notes from the Lab and Field In September, we were once again over the West Florida Shelf tagging dolphins. This one, an Atlantic spotted dolphin nicknamed “Patty,” was seen the next day with a somewhat smaller dolphin that was acting like it might be her calf. In May 2022, we initiated
A Tribute to James A. “Buddy” Powell, Ph.D. We lost a wonderful friend and colleague, and the world has lost a conservation hero with the death of Buddy Powell early on July 19 from cancer. Buddy was a pioneer in manatee research and conservation, whose work led to protected spaces
On May 17-18, 2023, we tagged and collected biological samples from two bottlenose and two Atlantic spotted dolphins 25-38 miles offshore of Sarasota during the third of four planned offshore health assessment and tagging sessions supported by a grant from the Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence Program. All four dolphins received suction-cup-mounted
A Successful Dolphin Rescue Near Marco Island Earlier this month, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) received several reports from the Naples/Marco Island area about a calf whose tail flukes were entangled in fishing line. After determining that the entanglement was life threatening, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) asked us to
Your Support on Giving Tuesday Makes This Possible As people who regularly follow our research and progress know, since 1970, we’ve been working to better understand dolphins and their ecosystem, and sharing the knowledge we've gained locally, statewide, nationally and internationally to help reduce the threats that dolphins worldwide face in the wild.
We’ve got some exciting news to share about our ongoing efforts to conduct health assessments of offshore dolphins: In September, we were able to conduct assessments and tag four dolphins over the West Florida Shelf. The SDRP is leading this project, which involves a multi-institution team funded by the Florida RESTORE Act Centers of
SDRP Founder Blair Irvine (left) and Sam Ridgway, 1967. The marine mammal scientific community has lost two of the field’s greats: Sam Ridgway and William F. Perrin. These founders of modern marine mammal science were indirectly involved in the creation and development of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP), and
