FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 80. NO. 1 



tags are most detectable, but are not durable and 

 may damage the dorsal fin tissues. Freeze 

 brands are durable, but not highly visible. Roto 

 tags are of limited use for field identification 

 except in unusual close range situations (e.g., 

 Norris and Pryor 1970), although a combination 

 color and location of the tag can identify an 

 individual. For free-ranging dolphins, spaghetti 

 tags are the only current tagging option, but 

 identification of these tags usually requires 

 collection of the animal. If animals are to be 

 captured initially, combinations of tag types and 

 use of natural marks can provide effective field 

 identification. 



Although radio tagging and tag or mark 

 identifications are valuable tools for ecological 

 studies of cetaceans, more development and 

 testing of tags and attachment techniques are 

 needed. Investigators should realize that 

 tagging methods which are successful on one 

 species may not work well on another species. 

 Prior to field studies, tags should be tested on the 

 species to be studied. We also recommend 

 intensive follow-up sighting surveys to maxi- 

 mize data return and to determine the effect of 

 tags and marks on free-ranging animals. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This project was supported by Marine 

 Mammal commission Contract MM4AC004 to J. 

 H. Kaufmann, W. E. Evans, D. K. Caldwell, and 

 A. B. Irvine; and Contract MM5AC0018 to 

 Kaufmann, Irvine, and Evans. We are indebted 

 to Clyde Jones and Howard Campbell of the 

 Denver Wildlife Research Center and to Robert 

 Hofman of the Marine Mammal Commission for 

 support and encouragement. We also thank Mike 

 Bogan, Larry Hobbs, Steve Leatherwood, and 

 Galen Rathbun for their constructive comments 

 on versions of the manuscript. Field work and 

 data analysis were greatly assisted by volunteers 

 from New College (University of South Florida) 

 and the University of Florida, to whom we are 

 indebted. We thank G. Marlow and M. Haslette 

 and staff from the St. Petersburg Aquatarium 

 for dolphin collections through October 1975, 

 and Snake Eubanks and Joe Mora for their fine 

 work thereafter. We also thank John Morrill 

 (New College, Environmental Studies Program) 

 for providing office space, Mary Moore and Carol 

 Blanton for furnishing dock space, Fred Worl for 

 supplying us with liquid nitrogen, and especially 

 Fran and Jack Wells for providing floor space 



and much patience to the dolphin trackers, who 

 regularly invaded their home. Estella Duell and 

 Joan Randell typed the manuscript. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Asper, E. D. 



1975. Techniques of live capture of smaller cetacea. J. 

 Fish. Res. Board Can. 32:1191-1196. 

 Evans, W. E. 



1971. Orientation behavior of delphinids: radio tele- 

 metric studies. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 188:142-160. 



1974. Radio- telemetric studies of two species of small 

 odontocete cetaceans. In W. E. Schevill (editor). The 

 whale problem: A status report, p. 385-394. Harv. 

 Univ. Press, Camb., Mass. 



Evans, W. E., J. D. Hall, A. B. Irvine, and J. S. 

 Leatherwood. 



1972. Methods for tagging small cetaceans. Fish. 

 Bull., U.S. 70:61-65. 



Gaskin, D. E., G. J. D. Smith, and A. P. Watson. 



1975. Preliminary study of movements of harbor por- 

 poises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Bay of Fundy using 

 radiotelemetry. Can. J. Zool. 53:1466-1471. 



Gruber, J. A. 



1981. Ecology of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin 

 (Tursiops truncal us) in the Pass Cavallo area of 

 Matagorda Bay, Texas. M.S. Thesis, Texas A&M 

 Univ., College Station, 182 p. 

 Irvine, A. B., M. D. Scott, R. S. Wells, and J. H. Kaufmann. 

 1981. Movements and activities of the Atlantic bottle- 

 nose dolphin. Tursiops truncatus, near Sarasota, 

 Florida. Fish. Bull. U.S. 79(4):67 1-688. 

 Irvine, A. B., and R. S. Wells. 



1972. Results of attempts to tag Atlantic bottlenosed 

 dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Cetology 13:1-5. 

 Leatherwood, S., and W. E. Evans. 



1979. Some recent uses and potentials of radio-telemetry 

 in field studies of cetaceans. In H. E. Winn and B. L 

 Olla (editors), Behavior of marine animals, Vol. 3, p. 

 1-31. Plenum Press, N.Y. 

 Martin, H., W. E. Evans, and C. A. Bowers. 



1971. Methods for radio tracking marine mammals in 

 the open sea. IEEE 1971 Conf. Eng. Ocean Environ., 

 p. 44-49. 

 Nishiwaki, M., M. Nakajima, and T. Tobayama. 



1966. Preliminary experiments for dolphin marking. 

 Sci. Res. Whales Inst. Tokyo 20:101-107. 

 Norris, K. S., and K. W. Pryor. 



1970. A tagging method for small cetaceans. J. 

 Mammal. 51:609-610. 

 Perrin, W. F., W. E. Evans, and D. B. Holts. 



1979. Movements of pelagic dolphins (Stenella spp.) in 

 the eastern tropical Pacific as indicated by results of 

 tagging, with summary of tagging operations, 1969-76. 

 U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS SSRF- 

 737, 14 p. 



Sergeant, D. E., and P. F. Brodie. 



1969. Tagging white whales in the Canadian arctic. J. 

 Fish. Res. Board Can. 26:2201-2205. 

 Wells, R. S., A. B. Irvine, and M. D. Scott. 



1980. The social ecology of inshore odontocetes. In L. M. 

 Herman (editor), Cetacean behavior, p. 263-317. Wiley 

 Interscience, N.Y. 



142 



