Dear MARMAM Subscribers: Three major newspapers in the U.S. have published articles over the past 2 weeks about the serious conservation issues facing dolphins in the wild from the careless and reckless actions of private boaters, commercial operators and tourists who feed or harass the animals: 1. The Miami Herald – “Dolphins at the mercy of the clueless and the cruel” (September 1, 2012): http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/01/2979063/dolphins-at-the-mercy-of-the-c... 2. Tampa Bay Times – “Scars of human folly show on Florida’s bottlenose dolphins” (August 27, 2012): http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/scars-of-human-folly-show-... 3. The New York Times – “The Dolphin Lover’s Conundrum” (August 14, 2012): http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/the-dolphin-lovers-conundrum/ The most recent one in The Miami Herald is by the award winning investigative journalist and best-selling author Carl Hiaasen. As many folks in the marine mammal community know, Mr. Hiaasen is well known for his strong conservation ethic and has written about marine mammal issues before. He has a large following so his attention to these issues should help raise additional and much needed awareness to inform the public about the harmful and dangerous human activities placing dolphins and other species of marine mammals at risk. Major thanks to the staff at NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, Chicago Zoological Society, Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and many others in the community for all their efforts to protect dolphins. ******************** Trevor R. Spradlin, M.Res. Marine Mammal Biologist Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program Office of Protected Resources NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service Tel: 301-427-8479 E-mail: Trevor.Spradlin@noaa.gov