Local experts want more dolphin monitoring

The dolphin population in the Mississippi Sound is strikingly lower than what it should be.
This was one of the points of discussion during a seminar about dolphin research at the USM Gulf Park campus in Long Beach tonight. The presentation was led by Executive Director for the Mississippi Institute of Dolphin Sciences Jeffrey Siegel.
Siegel went in depth about the 2010 BP oil spill and the impact on dolphin health in the wake of the spill.
The expert tells News 25 the annual survival rate for dolphins in our Mississippi Sound is around 75 percent, about 20 percent less than the average rate. “The most important point I was trying to get across is about the process that we have to go through as a scientist to get a permit to conduct scientific research with dolphins in America. That many good scientists are being driven out of America to accomplish their research goals,” said Siegel.
Siegel says events like the BP oil spill are the reason America needs more dolphin monitoring. The Mississippi Institute of Dolphin Sciences is currently working toward that cause.