THE ACSMB GRANTS AND COMMON DOLPHIN
By Libby Osnes-Erie
In 1980, the American Cetacean Society Monterey Bay Chapter (ACSMB) began awarding one to four grants annually to local Master's degree and Ph.D. candidates conducting research on marine mammals. Generally, these grants support field research conducted either locally or out of the area by students from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and University of California, Santa Cruz. The knowledge that the students gain is then shared with the Chapter through a lecture at one of the monthly meetings or a newsletter article.
The Bethel Grant is given each year in memory of the late Robert D. Bethel by his wife, Alice. Robert Bethel was a local ophthalmologist and a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a docent at Pt. Lobos State Reserve, and an active member of our chapter.
Typically, grant money has been raised through proceeds from ACSMB-sponsored whale watch trips which have been donated by Monterey Sport Fishing. In 1999 and 2000, however, two anonymous $1000 donations were given for the grant program.
Refer to ACS Research Grant Awards for a complete list of awards, compiled by Alan Baldridge.
Other ACS chapters that award research grants include Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. ACS - National also awards grants. Other local grants funding marine science research are awarded each year through the Dr. Earl H. and Ethel M. Myers Oceanographic and Marine Biology Trust.
Many award recipients present their research findings at marine mammal conferences and symposiums. In November 2000, ACS will sponsor a national conference which could feature some of the award recipients in lecture or poster presentations.
Grant for Common Dolphin Research
In 1994, as a student at Moss Landing Marine Labs, I was fortunate enough to be awarded an ACSMB grant which helped with expenses incurred during my Master's thesis research on Food Habits of Short-beaked (Delphinus delphis) and Long-beaked (D. capensis) Common Dolphins off California.
My involvement with ACS was directly responsible for the topic I chose for my research. During the 1992 ACS National Conference in Monterey, I was talking with Alan Baldridge at the opening reception at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We were discussing common dolphins and research that was being done to determine if the two types (short-beaked and long-beaked) were really two separate species. Alan and I spoke to Dr. John Heyning, who happened to be one of the researchers on that project, and Dr. Heyning mentioned that he'd like to know more about common dolphin food habits. Dr. Heyning ended up being on my thesis committee and the rest is history.
So, what did I do? I examined stomach contents of 45 short-beaked and 49 long-beaked common dolphins killed incidental to fishery operations and stranded specimens collected from 1975 to 1994.
And what did I find? Prey species identified among the four dolphin groups (short-beaked in the by-catch, short-beaked that had stranded, long-beaked in the by-catch, and long-beaked that had stranded) included 49 fish species, 18 cephalopod species, and one crustacean species.
Short-beaked common dolphin in the by-catch appeared to have different prey species that were important compared to the other three dolphin groups. This would indicate that short-beaked common dolphin spend more time foraging offshore compared to long-beaked common dolphin which spend more time foraging nearshore. Long-beaked common dolphins and stranded short-beaked common dolphin ate similar predominant prey species. This would indicate that short-beaked common dolphin in the process of stranding switch from their "normal" prey species and forage on nearshore prey similar to long-beaked common dolphin. The use of stomach contents from stranded common dolphins to determine "normal" food habits, therefore, may result in erroneous conclusions. Male and female common dolphins of both species had similar diets. Prey species eaten by short-beaked and long-beaked common dolphins were similar among three oceanographic periods.
Illustration by Robin Makowski