Chapter VIII — Research and Studies 



range. During winter, water temperatures outside the 

 warm-water discharge areas can fall to levels too cold 

 for manatees to survive. During periods of cold 

 weather, some plants have attracted more than 400 

 manatees to their warm-water outfalls. In the future, 

 deregulation of the electric power industry in Florida 

 may promote greater competition among electric 

 utilities, which could result in intermittent or perma- 

 nent shutdowns of some plants on which manatees 

 have come to depend (see Florida manatees in Chapter 

 II). To help assess the impact of such shutdowns on 

 manatees, this contract provided for an analysis of 

 data collected since 1982 on the numbers of manatees 

 using warm-water refuges at power plants in winter. 

 The contract report will be used by the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, the Florida power industry, the 

 Marine Mammal Commission, and other involved 

 organizations and agencies to assess possible ways of 

 avoiding possible manatee mortality brought about by 

 the loss of power plant refuges. 



Pilot Study of Interactions between Humans and 

 Wild Bottlenose Dolphins near Panama City, 

 Florida (Amy Samuels, Ph.D., Woods Hole Ocean- 

 ographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts) 



The National Marine Fisheries Service has promul- 

 gated regulations specifying that feeding marine 

 mammals in the wild constitutes harassment. There 

 exists within the Service a diversity of opinion as to 

 what other types of human-marine mammal interac- 

 tions also may constitute harassment and that therefore 

 may warrant inclusion in the regulatory definition of 

 take. Of particular relevance is the growing interest 

 in swimming with wild marine mammals, particularly 

 bottlenose dolphins. Commercial operations that 

 feature opportunities to swim with wild dolphins have 

 been established in several locales; some of these 

 apparently use food to attract and habituate marine 

 mammals to the presence of humans. These programs 

 put both humans and dolphins at risk of injury. Such 

 interactions also may result in changes to the marine 

 mammals' social behavior and foraging patterns that 

 can adversely affect their well-being. This contract 

 supported a pilot study to assess interactions between 

 humans and bottlenose dolphins at a beach near 

 Panama City, Florida, where such interactions have 

 regularly occurred. The contractor observed many 



instances of boaters and others attracting dolphins with 

 food, even though such action contravenes the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act and constitutes harassment. 

 Documented interactions between humans and dol- 

 phins, likely brought about or encouraged by feeding, 

 included physical contact between animals and hu- 

 mans, abrupt movements by dolphins in close proxim- 

 ity to swimmers, the placement of a swimmer's face 

 within touching distance of a dolphin's face, and 

 swimmers simultaneously feeding and petting dol- 

 phins. Some individually identified dolphins regularly 

 begged for food, while others ignored humans. Acting 

 on the information from this study (see Samuels and 

 Bejder 1998, Appendix B), the Commission, with 

 funding from the National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 contracted for a review of interactions between wild 

 mammals and humans, discussed below. 



Review and Analysis of Information on Interactions 

 between Humans and Marine Mammals and 

 Humans and Other Wild Mammal Species 

 (Amy Samuels, Ph.D., Chicago Zoological Society, 

 Brookfield, Illinois) 



During assessment of the results of the human- 

 bottlenose dolphin interactions smdy described above, 

 it became clear that humans interact in possibly 

 harmful ways with a variety of other wild animals, but 

 that there is no single source of information on such 

 interactions. Considering the growing importance of 

 this issue and the potential threats to the safety and 

 well-being of both swimmers and marine mammals, 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service provided funds 

 to the Commission to contract for a review of relevant 

 information concerning human-animal interactions 

 across a range of species. The report will summarize 

 available information and (a) describe the likely 

 effects of swim programs on wild marine mammals; 

 (b) discuss whether and, if so, how these programs 

 may injure or disturb marine mammals or marine 

 mammal stocks; and (c) identify additional research as 

 may be needed to ascertain whether adverse effects 

 are occurring and, if so, to document such effects as 

 they pertain to the statutory definition of harassment. 

 The report will help guide the Service and other 

 agencies in determining further management actions 

 that may be required to ensure the safety and well- 

 being of marine mammals and humans. 



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