The purchase of a boat exclusively for the Eckerd College Dolphin Project is a future goal of the project. The ideal vessel would be a 19' Boston Whaler or possibly a Carolina Skiff, equipped with a depth finder, telemetry equipment, and a 150-175hp engine. Approximate cost = $15,000

    A week of live captures in the Boca Ciega Bay area would greatly increase our knowledge about the health and life history aspects of the Boca Ciega Bay bottlenose dolphins. Temporary live captures would facilitate the positive identification of both the sex and age of individual animals , which leads to a greater understanding of social interactions. This method of data collection also provides access to blood samples which can be used to determine hormone levels and the current health status of the animal. Live captures also provide an opportunity to record acoustic sounds of the dolphin, such as signature whistles. Unfortunately, a week of live captures comes with a price tag of approximately $40,000 and financial support in the future will be required if this aspect of the project is to be realized.

    Fatty acid signature research is expected to be initiated in 2000 cooperatively with Mote Marine Laboratory. The development of a fatty acid signature library of available prey items will make it possible to then analyze the blubber content of bottlenose dolphins and determine what prey items are being eaten and in what abundance. Dart biopsies, a method in which blubber samples are obtained without capturing the animal will provide valuable samples for fatty acid analysis as well as skin samples that will permit the sex of each animal to be determined. Approximate cost = $125,000

    The purchase of a digital camera would facilitate communication between computer matching programs that are currently in development and field pictures.  In addition, a digital camera would allow individual dolphin photographs to be stored on a computer and retreived from this medium for various applications. Approximate cost for two cameras and related software = $2,000