Science in Seconds: Steve Burton

When two dolphins, a mother and calf, were recently discovered entangled in fishing gear in the Jensen Beach area of the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Steve Burton and his team saved the day.

Burton, director of the Florida Atlantic Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute’s Marine Mammal Stranding and Population Assessment program, and his team, study the animals in the IRL and their movement patterns. The team responds to marine mammal strandings and rescues, assists with examining the cause of death for some animals, as well as collects data for scientific analysis.

“Our team responds to stranding events year-round in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties on the east coast of Florida. We also travel throughout Florida to assist our Southeast United States Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Network members when called upon by NMFS,” Burton said.

While it can be difficult to see dolphins and whales dead or sick, Burton said, he focuses on the positive stories and what can be learned. The happiest stories, he said, are when the team gets to disentangle live animals caught up in rope or fishing line and then released back to the wild. “Sometimes you’ll see that animal six months later and thriving,” Burton said.

In the case of the entangled calf and its mother, the team was able to document the calf in the field and then check the photo-identification database to confirm the dolphin mother was JENA and her calf was c1JENA, Burton said.

“We had over a year’s documented sighting history on each of these animals and mapped the area they would mostly be seen again so that a rescue could be performed,” Burton said. “This is a great example of how Marine mammal strandings and population assessment data can work together.”