McFee and Hopkins Muipliy Sliandings of Tuisiops taincalus off South Carolina 



259 



-81 



L_ 



-80 



L_ 



-79 

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34- 



33- 



32- 



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+ 



North Carolina 



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180 kilometers 



J 



Figure 1 



South Carolina coastline showing the three stranding zones: North Carolina border-Bulls Bay (zone 1) 

 Bulls Bay-St. Helena Sound (zone 2), and St. Helena Sound-Georgia border (zone 3). 



teers and the state coordinator. Since 1991, the SCDNR has 

 flown the South Carolina coastUne from Murrells Inlet to 

 Port Royal Sound ( approximately 200 km ) once a month to 

 look for stranded marine mammals on remote beaches I Fig. 

 1 ). These along-shore surveys were flown in a Cessna 180 

 high-wing SCDNR plane at 76 m altitude. Aerial reports 

 were also received opportunistically from the U.S. Coast 

 Guard, the Charleston County Sheriff's Department, and 

 SCDNR, and reports were also received from SCDNR sci- 

 entists (on the ground) who surveyed beaches for sea turtle 

 nesting. Additional strandings were observed during aerial 

 sun'eys of an investigation into dolphin mortality associ- 

 ated with a coastal shad-net fishery in 1995 I McFee et al., 

 1996). 



For our study, the South Carolina coast was split into 

 three geogi-aphical regions based on watersheds and hy- 

 drography (Brown, 1977): a northern zone (zone 1) from 

 the North Carolina border to Bulls Bay (approximately 

 137 km), a central zone (zone 2) from Bulls Bay Island to 

 St. Helena Sound (approximately 100 km), and a southern 

 zone ( zone 3 ) from St. Helena Sound to the Georgia border 

 (approximately 75 km) (Fig. 1). Coverage of the coastline 

 has been consistent since 1992. Although coverage on re- 

 mote islands was lower in winter and higher in summer, 

 it was constant from year to year. These areas are regu- 



larly patrolled by sea turtle personnel from the SCDNR 

 and volunteers, many of whom are also members of the 

 marine mammal stranding network. 



Level A data (Hofman, 1991) were collected from each 

 animal. Straight lengths of each bottlenose dolphin were 

 obtained by measuring in centimeters (cm) from the tip of 

 the upper jaw to the fluke notch. Photogi'aphs were taken 

 for the majority of animals and were archived at the Na- 

 tional Ocean Sui-vey (NOS) Charleston Laboratory. Fresh- 

 ly dead animals were transported to the NOS Charleston 

 Laboratory for necropsy or examined at the site of strand- 

 ing according to NOS Charleston Laboratory protocol 

 (Galloway and Colbert-). Animals in a moderate state of 

 decomposition were not fully examined, but life history 

 samples such as stomachs, ovaries, and skulls were collect- 

 ed. Necropsy reports were catalogued at the NOS Charles- 

 ton Laboratory. 



All stranded marine mammals that were accessible 

 were examined for cause of death or evidence of human in- 

 teraction (or for both). Stranding network volunteers and 



- Galloway, S. B.. and A. A. Colbert. 1997. Marine forensics 

 manual. Part 1: marine mammals. Unpubl. manuscript. Center 

 for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomoleculer Research, 

 219 Ft. Johnson Rd., Charieston, South Carolina 29412. 



