Data from these surveys have been used to track location and amount of survey effort during field projects.

These data sets include a compilation of small vessel based studies of bottlenose dolphins that reside within Mississippi Sound and nearshore coastal waters. The data consist primarily of photo-identification studies that use natural markings on animal dorsal fins to identify individuals over time. Surveys consist of line transects aboard small boats with concentrated effort to collect photographs of individuals. These photographs are reviewed to identify and catalog individual animals. In addition, several targeted studies have been conducted within this program to collect tissue biopsy samples for genetic and contaminant analyses. These data are used to examine demographic structure and population dynamics of the Mississippi Sound stock of bottlenose dolphins.

These data sets include a compilation of small vessel based studies of bottlenose dolphins that reside within Biscayne Bay, Florida, adjacent estuaries and nearshore coastal waters. The data consist primarily of photo-identification studies that use natural markings on animal dorsal fins to identify individuals over time. Surveys consist of line transects aboard small boats with concentrated effort to collect photographs of individuals. These photographs are reviewed to identify and catalog individual animals. In addition, several targeted studies have been conducted within this program to collect tissue biopsy samples for genetic and contaminant analyses. These data are used to examine demographic structure and population dynamics of the Biscayne Bay Estuarine System stock of bottlenose dolphins.

Data from strandings included as part of the UME. All data are included in the Tech Memo.

The NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center conducted a common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) photo-identification mark-recapture and biological sampling project in Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida from 24 July to 30 August in 2007. A model-averaged estimate of the superpopulation of bottlenose dolphins in and around Choctawhatchee Bay was 232 (SE = 13) animals. Estimated resident abundance was 179 (SE = 8), which was lower than the number of unique animals encountered (n=188). This data collection includes dorsal fin photographs and sighting histories for unique photo-identified individual dolphins, including information about spatial distribution, mark characteristics, biological samples obtained, and GIS data such as survey track and waypoint files.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuary Program (ONMS) updates and revises the management plans for each of its 13 sanctuaries. This process, which is open to the public, enables each site to revisit the reasons for sanctuary designation and assess whether they are meeting their goals, as well as to set new goals consistent with the mandates of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Issues raised by the public during this process are evaluated and a determination is made as to whether they will be incorporated into the updated plan. Many of these issues focus on topics such as the implementation of marine zoning or sanctuary boundary adjustments, both of which require information on the distribution of resources within and around the sanctuary. Recognizing this, ONMS and NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) formalized an agreement to collaborate in the revision process by developing such information through a series of biogeographic assessments conducted in selected sanctuaries. The resulting products are then supplied to sanctuary managers and staff for use in the policy and decision making process. This collaborative effort began along the west coast of the U.S. with the Cordell Bank, Gulf of Farallones, and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries, and is herein centered on the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS).

It has been shown through a variety of photo-identification studies that populations of bottlenose dolphin inhabit the various embayments along the coast of Florida. Knowledge of population stock structure is critical to developing management plans and understanding how stressors impact individual populations. Researchers have found that photo-identification is one of the best ways to study populations of bottlenose dolphin in near shore environments. Unlike aerial and ship-board surveys, individual dolphins can be identified and tracked temporally and spatially, giving investigators a more comprehensive picture of population stock structure

The NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center conducted surveys within the southern North Carolina estuarine system from 2018-01-08 to 2018-01-26 to provide an updated estimate of abundance for the Southern North Carolina Estuarine System Stock (SNCESS) of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) using photographic-identification capture-mark-recapture (photo-ID) techniques. The surveys were strategically planned for winter when little overlap in distribution with the Northern North Carolina Estuarine System Stock (NNCESS) or coastal migratory stocks of bottlenose dolphins was expected. Because the sighting histories of individual dolphins have been an important tool for identifying or confirming stock membership, we also compared dolphins that were photo-identified during the 2018 surveys to dolphins that were included in a long-term photo-ID catalog dating back to 1995-07-10. Using the 2018 photographs and the long-term photo-ID catalog, we also evaluated the use of differences in Xenobalanus globicipitis infestation captured in photographs among individuals and groups as support for stock definition. This dataset contains the spatiotemporal sighting histories, photographs, observations of Xenobalanus globicipitis presence/absence, and environmental data for common bottlenose dolphin groups observed during the 2018 surveys. Data for individual dolphins observed during the 2018 surveys that were previously included in the long-term photo-ID catalog were provided as a subset with corresponding photographic matches. The sighting history and photographs of individuals matching from the long-term catalog are included with the exception of those dates indicated as capture events, as such photographs were not digitized.

Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) photographic-identification surveys were conducted by the Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) Marine Mammal Behavioral Ecology Group, on the Texas coast and included Galveston Bay, West Bay, Matagorda Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, the lower Laguna Madre, and adjacent coastal waters from 1990 to 2001. Photos were initially collected using 35mm film cameras and converted into slides or developed into print photographs and archived in physical storage. The slide film and hardcopy images of individuals with distinct dorsal fin contours were later digitized and embedded with metadata. This dataset includes the digital photographs of dolphin groups, and individual dorsal fin images embedded with metadata including general geographic locations, dolphin mother-calf associations, calf identification, and dolphin group composition. This dataset also includes some tabular data that were recorded for the West Bay study area related to the digital photos.