Are dolphins as curious about us as we are about them? Dr Anjani Ganase talks with linguist/bio-acoustician, Syam Nath of the TT Cetacean Sighting Network after a joyful encounter.
The morning started like any other. The boat was loaded by 8 am at Gibson Jetty, we motored slowly through the Bon Accord Lagoon and left the reef through its northern channel.
As we did so, we were met by a pod of curious dolphins. It turned out they were a group of ten-12 rough-tooth dolphins (Steno bredanensis) cruising the area. The boat driver did not deviate course, however, maintaining a steady speed. As we made our way to Mt Irvine, the dolphins approached the boat to bow ride.
I can spend thousands of hours at sea and my response to dolphins is always the same: exhilarated joy.
As we arrived at our dive destination at Mt Irvine, the boat slowed and the pod moved on, or so we thought. After an hour of diving, we surfaced to realise that the pod was lingering around Rocky Point, and there were snorkellers in the water with them. We observed from the distance as the dolphins moved about the snorkellers, not wanting to ruin a special experience.
As the other boat moved on, the dolphins continued to hang around, so we decided to cruise over very slowly. If the dolphins were not interested in us, they would swim away, and we would leave them alone and that would be fine. One diver got in to test the waters. They seem to be as intrigued in us as we were, and so the second diver, and then another, entered the water.
They swam among us, making eye contact. We listened to the sounds they were making. What were they saying to each other?
After ten minutes, we decided to leave them and return to the bay. They followed the boat back into the bay and passed as we rolled back into the water to do our second dive. We could still hear distant sounds underwater. The rest of the day, everyone on the boat had a smile on their face.
Working in the ocean for many years, these are the rewarding moments that we look forward to. Even better is to be able to share these moments for scientific research and educational purposes. For this reason, I always carry a camera, whether it is for a walk along the beach or on every work dive just in case there was something important to record.
I believe Syam Nath, lead scientist and director of TT Cetacean (all species of whales, dolphins and porpoises) Sighting Network (TTCSN) would agree with me. Nath hopes through the network a visual archive of cetaceans found in our waters can be collected and used to understand the populations of cetaceans, their movements and behaviours, as well as discern any impact we may have on them. The findings will be critical to their conservation.
[caption id="attachment_1031959" align="alignnone" width="476"] Syam Nath -[/caption]
“The goal of the network is to have eyes and ears on the presence of these animals. We collect information on their location, and use pictures and videos collected to identify the species, observe behaviours and even audio recordin
