Mid-Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Catalog
This online platform is a collection of dorsal fin catalogs from 15 different areas along the Mid and South Atlantic coast. It is part of OBIS-SEAMAP, and curated by Kim Urian (Duke University). The MABDC allows researchers to compare dorsal fins between different research areas. Some areas have more than one catalog available, so one could compare 'older' dorsal fins to 'newer' dorsal fins within the same area.
For my project, I will be using the NC-DUML-UNCW (North Carolina) catalog, the NC-NMFS (North Carolina) catalog, the SC-NOS (Charleston) catalog and the SC-NOS strandings (Charleston) catalog. Go ahead and take a look at them yourself!
To compare fins you have to select a research area (Site 1) and a second research area (Site 2). Then you can filter the photos by selecting a specific attribute for both sites (say you want to look at dolphins with fin mutilation). Now you can choose the dorsal fin you want to match from Site 1 and compare it to all other dorsal fin on Site 2. Try it out!
When contributors find a match, they submit it to each other and 3 people have to confirm it. This is a great tool to find out where dolphins go. When we have the dates from all the sightings, we can also infer on movements, migration and which stock these dolphins belong to. Yes I know, lots of work! But also so exciting! I am looking forward to starting this project and finding out where 'my' dolphins go when it gets cold here. =)
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