July 2021

We hope that you and your family are staying safe and as healthy as possible as we begin to emerge from the pandemic. Even though we have not been able to work on our usual dolphin observation activities, we are continuing our work to protect the estuarine dolphins in any ways that we can until we are able to go back to our dolphin research program. We can still do education and we can work with other conservation groups to protect the environment that the dolphins live in. Training, a prerequisite along with membership in TDP for survey participation, has resumed, and is currently being done online via Zoom.  We are looking forward to restarting our dolphin surveys, and to having more people join us. If you are interested in the survey, please see the details below for registration below.

If you can't yet join a survey, but want to help protect the estuarine dolphins and their environment, there are things that you can do. The information below can help guide you.

July is Habitat Month - 

Learn from NOAA Fisheries about how a health habitat can protect the dolphins!

"We are excited to kick off Habitat Month at NOAA Fisheries. All month long, we will share our incredible habitat conservation efforts through our website and social media.

The theme this year is "Connecting Habitat, Climate, and Communities!” We will explain how our habitat work supports resilient communities and ecosystems and connects to climate change.

We will highlight a variety of different habitat conservation projects and products, hold a photo contest open to all, and announce funding for new projects from six grant competitions. Follow us here and on Twitter (@NOAAHabitat, #HabitatMonth).  Also, be sure to stay up-to-date each month by becoming a HabitatNews subscriber. Help spread the word about the importance of habitat conservation to communities, and our planet!"

Help Eliminate Plastic Pollution

It's #PlasticFreeJuly 

We can work to decrease plastic pollution which is harmful to the dolphins and other marine animals. You can do things to decrease plastic pollution by decreasing your own use of single use plastics, such as the plastic that is used for disposable water bottles, or plastic shopping bags. Here are some things to know about plastics:

Fewer than 30% of plastic bottles are recycled in the U.S. - technically speaking, most are "downcycled" -meaning it was remade into an item of lower quality that most likely cannot be recycled again.  

Emory University is the first Georgia university to go plastic free. First formed in October of 2020 with support from Oceana, Plastic Free Emory is a student-led initiative that campaigns for a plastic free campus.  Just last month, Emory University's President Fenves signed the "Break Free From Plastic Pledge" to phase out unnecessary single-use plastic by 2026.  This is a significant step towards reducing single-use plastics. 

We can encourage other colleges and universities to also become plastic free.

We can also encourage businesses to explore plastic-free business models. If you are a business owner, or know a business owner, consider looking into this.

Saving Right Whales

Learn about the campaign that '100 Miles' has started in partnership with The Dolphin Project, Glynn Environmental Coalition, and St Marys Earthkeepers, to protect the right whales, which come to the area near the Georgia and Florida coasts to birth their calves. The campaign is working to save the existing right whales (fewer than 375 whales and approximately 100 breeding females) and to increase their numbers by decreasing threats that are caused by humans. Since 2017, at least 47 right whales have been killed by boat strikes and entanglements in fishing gear from the lobster and snow crab industries.

The actions that you can take to help include:

1. Choose to “Eat Local, Not Lobster” as much as possible, whether cooking at home or dining out. By forgoing lobster and snow crab, you’re making a choice to protect right whales and support local sustainable seafood industries.
2. Learn about your food choices. Do you know where your food comes from and how it was caught? Know how to make healthy and wildlife-friendly choices with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program and the Glynn Environmental Coalition’s Safe Seafood program. It’s always a good practice to ask where your seafood was caught—shrimp from international waters or even the Gulf isn’t as safe for sea turtles as Georgia’s, for example—and stay as close to home as possible.
3. Educate others! Share why you’ve decided to avoid lobster and snow crab with your friends and family, or restaurants you frequent. See our “conversation starters” below, or print out a comment card to share.
4. Restaurant owners can participate, too! If you offer sustainable seafood options in lieu of lobster and snow crab, contact 100 Miles for an “Eat Local—Not Lobster” sign and other collateral to share with your customers.

For more information on the Save the Right Whales campaign, go to: https://onehundredmiles.org/rightwhales/