Status of the Photo-Identification Catalog of Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins of the211 Western North Atlantic: Report of a Workshop of Catalog Contributors

摘要

In 1997 the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established the Mid-211u001eAtlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Photo-ID Catalog (MABDC). This catalog is part of an 211u001eNMFS program to define stock structure of coastal bottlenose dolphins of the 211u001ewestern North Atlantic; the current stock assessment assumes that coastal 211u001ebottlenose dolphins from New York to central Florida form a single stock. The 211u001eMABDC is a cooperative program, comprised of images and data contributed by 211u001eresearchers conducting photo-ID studies along the mid-Atlantic States. The NMFS 211u001econvened a workshp in Virginia Beach, VA to update the contributors on the status 211u001eof the MABDC, and to discuss future goals and applications of the Catalog. 211u001eSelection of images from New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida 211u001ewas completed in December 1998. Images of 3,843 individual dolphins were 211u001eevaluated at these sites; 1,933 were selected and digitized in the MABDC with 211u001eassociated field data.