258 



Abstract-From 1992 to 1996, 153 bot- 

 tlenose dolphin stranded in South Car- 

 olina, accounting for 737f of all marine 

 mammal strandings during this period. 

 The objectives of our study were to eval- 

 uate data from these strandings to deter- 

 mine 1) annual trends in strandings, 2) 

 seasonal and spatial distribution trends, 

 3) life histoiy parameters such as sex 

 ratio and age classes, 3) seasonal trends 

 in reproduction, and 4) the extent to 

 which humans have played a role in 

 causing these strandings (human inter- 

 actions). The results showed that 49'7r 

 of the bottlenose dolphin strandings 

 occurred between April and July; the 

 greatest number of strandings occurred 

 in July (?!=22). There was a significant 

 .seasonal increase in the distribution 

 of bottlenose dolphin strandings in the 

 northern portion of the state from 

 November to March Bottlenose dolphin 

 neonates stranded in every month of 

 the year, except March and October, and 

 represented 19.6'^^ of the total number of 

 strandings with known length (^ = 138). 

 Fifty-five percent (n = 15l of bottlenose 

 dolphin neonatal strandings occurred 

 between May and July. Bottlenose dol- 

 phins determined to have died as the 

 result of human interaction accounted 

 for 23.1''( of the total number of bot- 

 tlenose dolphin strandings (excluding 

 those for which a determination could 

 not be made ). Incidents of bottlenose dol- 

 phin entanglements in nets accounted 

 for 16 of these cases. 



Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) 

 strandings in South Carolina, 1992-1996 



Wayne E. McFee 



Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecuiar Research 

 National Ocean Sen/ice 

 219 Ft Johnson Road 

 Charleston, South Carolina 29412 

 E mail address wayne mcfee anoaa gov 



Sally R. Hopkins-Murphy 



South Carolina Department of Natural Resources 



PO Box 12559, 



Charleston, South Carolina 29422 



Manuscript accepted 11 September' 2001. 

 Fish. Bull. 100:2,'58-265 (2002). 



Wlien bottlenose dolphins (Ti/7-s;ops triui- 

 catiis) began stranding along the South 

 CaroHna coast during the 1987-88 die- 

 off, state and federal authorities knew 

 that it was an unusual mortality event. 

 However, since there had been no orga- 

 nized marine mammal stranding net- 

 work (MMSN) in the state (i.e. with- 

 out standardized, historical data), the 

 severity of the event could not be 

 evaluated. To avoid this situation in 

 the future, the National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service (NMFS) gave the South 

 Carolina Department of Natural Re- 

 sources (SCDNR) primary authority for 

 the South Carolina Marine Mammal 

 Stranding Network (SCMMSN) in Jan- 

 uary of 1991. An agreement between 

 NMFS and SCDNR was entered into in 

 1992 under the Marine Mammal Pro- 

 tection Act (MMPA), and statewide, 

 standardized stranding coverage was 

 begun at that time. 



In the epizootic event of 1987-88, it 

 appeared that more than 50'( of the 

 migratory population of bottlenose dol- 

 phin perished along the eastern United 

 States seaboard (Scott et al.M. As a re- 

 sult, the NMFS declared the coastal 

 migratory stock of bottlenose dolphins 

 depleted in 1993 (FR, 1993). Recom- 

 mendations on data collection were set 

 forth at the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin 

 Workshop in Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 13-14 September 1993 (Wang et al., 

 1994) for the depleted coastal migi-atory 

 stock of bottlenose dolphins. As a result, 

 valuable life history data, tissue sam- 

 ples for histopathological and contami- 



nant analyses, and seasonal stranding 

 trends were obtained. 



The objectives of this five-year study 

 of stranded bottlenose dolphins in South 

 Carolina were to determine 1 ) annual 

 trends in strandings, 2) seasonal and 

 spatial distribution trends, 3) life his- 

 tory parameters such as sex ratio and 

 age classes, 3) seasonal trends in re- 

 production, and 4) the extent to which 

 humans played a role in causing the 

 strandings (human interactions). By 

 examining the stranding data on a fin- 

 er scale, we would be better prepared to 

 evaluate any future unusual mortality 

 event. 



Methods 



The South Carolina MMSN is composed 

 of 20-2.5 people, including volunteers 

 from the general public, university staff, 

 federal, and state agency personnel. A 

 separate group of the network, made up 

 of SCDNR and NOS personnel and local 

 veterinarians, respond to live stranded 

 animals. A 1-800 telephone number, 

 maintained by the SCDNR, receives 

 reports from the public and transfers 

 the information to the network volun- 



Scott, G. P.. Burn, D. M.. and L. J. Hansen. 

 1988. The dolphin die-off: long-term effects 

 and recovery of the population. Proc. of the 

 Oceans '88 Conf . NY. p. 819-823. Unpubl. 

 manu.script. Southeast Fisheries Science 

 Center, 7.5 Virginia Beach Dr, Miami, Flor- 

 ida .33149. 



