A group of teenagers learning to sail on the Patuxent River this past summer spotted it in the distance: A dolphin’s fin bouncing above the water. They steered closer and were surrounded by friendly marine mammals.
“All of a sudden, there were like 50 of them around us,” said Patuxent High School student Carolyn Wilson, an instructor for the Southern Maryland Sailing Association’s summer camp. She pulled out her iPhone and snapped some pictures.
Those photos helped researchers confirm one of hundreds of dolphin sightings reported around the Chesapeake Bay last year. The effort to better track movement of dolphins through the bay and its tributaries began in June, and the response has been overwhelming, said Helen Bailey, a research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
“We were only expecting maybe 25 to 30 [dolphin sightings] a year,” Bailey said. “We had over 900 reported last year, and we were able to verify nearly 450 of those.”
Scientists say dolphins used to visit the bay more frequently. Published reports of sightings date back into the 1800s. But as pollution degraded the Chesapeake’s water quality through the 20th century, they became more rare.
Now, researchers are exploring whether more dolphins are swimming up the bay, possibly invited by clearer waters, abundant submerged grasses and rebounding fisheries. Through a website they set up to collect sighting reports — and a smartphone app that will launch soon — the researchers are learning that the beloved creatures venture miles upstream in rivers such as the York and Potomac, and as far north as Annapolis and the Bay Bridge.
“It’s very likely they’re following fish into the bay. Hopefully, that’s a good sign,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t look like it’s just amusement from the coast into the bay.”
We get dolphins playing here in Santa Monica bay and it's always wonderful. I'm happy for the Maryland folk that they get to experience it too.
