Last night Tinkerbell returned to Tangalooma after being absent since the January Queensland flood disaster.  It was a very exciting and emotional return for Tinkerbell as we had not seen her in such a long time and naturally we had concern for her safety and well being.

Tink entered the feed area at 6.05pm from the north west and she didn't have any apparent marks or injuries and seemed to be in good health.  When Tinkerbell did enter the feed area, she swam straight over to her first born calf,Tangles.

SadlyTinkerbell's two and a half year old calf Phoenix was not with her.  We are hoping that she may be with the juveniles and will hopefully come in with them over the next few weeks.

We are extremely happy to see Tinkerbell and are hopeful in looking forward to seeing the other dolphins return over the next few weeks or months.

Lastest studies by University of Queensland Marine Scientist and Moreton Bay Dolphin Researcher, Ina Ansmann indicate that the bottlenose dolphins in Moreton Bay have been adapting their social lives to changing levels of trawl fisheries.   In the late  1990s when prawn trawling was occurring at much higher levels than today, dolphins in the Southern bay were split into two social communities, ones that followed prawn trawelers to feed on discarded by-catch ("Trawler Dolphins") and those that did not interact with trawlers ("Non-Trawler Dolphins").  Members of the two communities were never associating.  Afer the introduction of important fisheries legislation such as the Trawl Management Plan of 1999 and the Moreton Bay Marine Park Zoning Plan of 1997 (which has recently been reviewed again), prawn trawling in Moreton Bay has been reduced by almost 50% and much of the Southern bay is now protected areas.  Since this reduction in trawling pressure, the dolphins of Southern Moreton Bay have returned to a more "natural" social system of one large compact network (rather than separate communities) with more and stronger associations between individuals. Former Trawler and Non-Trawler dolphins are now associating with each other.  This more highly connected social network may help the animals cooperate or learn from each other and make them more efficient at foraging naturally rather than depending on an artificial food source such as trawler by-catch.

Ina is a Marine Biologist and PhD candiate at the University of Queensland and has undertaken dolphin research around the world for the last 10 years.  Ina has only just recently won an award at the Eurpoean Cetacean Society Conference in Spain for her presentation of her outstanding research on the social structure of Moreton Bay dolphins.

Tangalooma is very proud to have Ina as a casual member of the Tangalooma Marine Education and Conservation Centre and the continued support of Ina and scientists like her is a key factor in the continued conservation and monitoring of Moreotn Bay region.

 Ina collecting data in Moreton Bay