With the support of the public, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources has had huge success with a dolphin-tagging project after only one year.

        The project began in February 2002, when the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requested volunteer fishermen to tag dolphin (the sportfish, not the mammal bottlenose dolphin). In just one year, fishermen on charter boats tagged 80 dolphin, while fishermen on private vessels tagged 298, for a total of 378 tagged fish.

        DNR biologist Don Hammond, who coordinates the tagging program, is looking forward to an even better year in 2003. Hammond currently has 424 fishermen from both private and charter boats who have agreed to tag dolphin. "Because of the dolphin's short life span and high mortality, the project has set a high goal of tagging 2,000 fish in 2003," Hammond said.

        Hammond has gained a lot of information from the nine tags that have been recovered so far. Four tags were recovered off North Carolina (one off Morehead and the other three off Hatteras/Oregon Inlet), two off Florida, one off Georgia, one off Virginia and one off Rhode Island.

There were up to five months between when the fish were tagged and recaptured, with an average amount of time lapse of 42 days. The fish traveled 260 miles on average from the time they were tagged to the time that their tag was recovered.

        One fish that was tagged just southeast of Charleston at the end of May was recovered five months later off Rhode Island. "This was very exciting for us since it is the farthest north that a tagged dolphin has been caught and occurred a month later than dolphin would be expected to be present in those waters," Hammond said.

        In only five months, the dolphin found off Rhode Island had grown 13 inches (24 inches when tagged and 37 when recovered) and had gained 10 pounds (four pounds when tagged and 14 when recovered).

        "The tag recoveries in 2002 have provided great insight into the movement patterns of dolphin in their spring and summer migration up the eastern seaboard to their summer grounds in the mid-Atlantic," Hammond said. "We've seen variances between populations that we didn't know existed. One theory is that the dolphin off the eastern Bahamas are the big fish that end up off the Carolinas, so we hope this study will indicate what, if any, relation exists between the two populations."

        The DNR's dolphin tagging study is funded by the W. F. Pate Memorial Marine Conservation Fund of the S.C. Governor's Cup Billfishing Series, and by the S.C. Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Program.

        "With additional financial support of sportfishing clubs, private businesses and individuals, incentive awards have been developed to encourage anglers to tag and release their small, 16 to 36 -inch dolphin," Hammond said. Anglers who tag five or more fish or report the capture of a tagged fish receive a T-shirt featuring original art by Chris Sommers of Coral Springs, Fla.

        Hammond recently presented the private boat, charter boat and individual angler tagging the most dolphin in 2002 with a Penn International II 50TW reel on a Star Standup rod. The three rods were donated by Sea Striker and Star Rods of Morehead, N.C., and the three reels were donated by Haddrell's Point Tackle, The Reel Johns, and Barton and Burwell's Fishing Tackle, all located in Charleston.

        The award recipients were: Top Private Boat, Chester H. Kalb II, Key West, Fla; Top Charter Boat, Mark Wilson, Rockledge, Fla; Top Individual Angler, Bill Baugh, Savannah

        "The project initially was to focus on tagging dolphin off South Carolina and to define their movements along the South Carolina coast," Hammond said. "But then Florida Sportsman magazine ran an article about the study, and Florida fishermen began to call to volunteer to tag fish." Hammond said that the magazine also put the article on its Web page, so the e-mails and calls increased even more. Since then, Salt Water Sportsman and Sports Fishing have both run articles and placed links on their web sites to the study's web site, which further increased the flood of calls.

        As a result, people all along the Eastern coast from Key West to Staten Island are tagging dolphin for South Carolina's study. The project is currently scheduled to run through June 2004 but may be extended at least through December 2004, Hammond added.

        The common dolphin (fish), Coryphaena hippurus, has been shown to travel 80 miles in a straight-line distance over 24 hours. They can grow as fast as 2.7 inches in length per week, and reach sexual maturity at only three to four months of age. Females seem to be in a constant state of egg development, reproducing, or spawning, multiple times in a year. Few dolphin live past 18 months of age. The oldest reported age for a dolphin is 4 years old.

        Anglers interested in tagging fish for the program or who recapture a tagged dolphin should contact Don Hammond by phone at (843) 953-9847 in Charleston or by e-mail at hammondd@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us.

        The public is reminded of Coast Watch, which was developed to better help citizens report violations of saltwater recreational and commercial fishing laws, as well as marine environmental laws. The Coast Watch hotline number (1-800-922-5431) is toll-free and available 24 hours a day.

- Written by Jennie R. Davis -