As Marylanders know, the Chesapeake Bay is a great place to visit in the summer.
Dolphins are increasingly getting the memo.
Last year, there was an uptick in dolphin sightings in the Bay. Researchers from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science were pleasantly surprised, and they quickly moved to create a place to record sightings with a DolphinWatch map. According to WTOP, researchers also conducted flyovers and spotted dolphins in lots of different parts of the Bay.
This year, they’re calling on citizen scientists to get involved. The DolphinWatch mobile app allows for reporting of time and location of a sighting. Users can also post a picture.
Along with getting a location, the researchers want to learn more about these bottlenose tourists. Like any good travel trackers, they’re looking to get a better idea of how often they visit, how long they stay and why they head for certain spots.
“We’d like to increase people’s awareness of the dolphins and collect data at the same time,” Helen Bailey, a scientist at UMCES, said in a statement. “Where you’re at home, whether you have a community pier, you live near the water or you go out on the water, we need your eyes on the sea telling us where are the dolphins.”
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