Biologist dispels marine mammal mysrerles by Cynthia D. Stowell The call can come any ttme of the day or nlght, on the ocean-blue phone in her PSU lab or In the m~ddleof d~nnerat home. It might be the itate poljce ~n Ttllamook reporttng a man with a harbor seal pup In h~ motel bathtub, or a patrolman in Lincoln Clty who says a coupled dolph~nh~ave warhcd up on share. The Marine Mammal Stranding Network tr ~n acton and Dehhie Duiiteld ha5 to make a decwon. The lir\t case IS pretty stra~ghtiorward."Tell that guy he'd better put the pup back on the beach or he lace5 a $10,000 hne," she tell? the pollre a1 T~llamook."I'll send out an obrcrvcr to see ~tthe pup', mother 1s feeding him " The wcond sttuation is a little tougher. Are the rlalphin5 dead or alive?How long have they been there, Ir anvone dtsturb~ngthem?The answers to these quertami w~ll determine whcthrr the PSU b~ology proiersur lumps tnto her pickup now ior the two-hour drwe or waltc until mornlng. W ~ t heach call, a chain of events is ~nittatcdthat could re~ult In a seal pup reunited with ,ti mother, a dolphin transported to OSU's Marlne Sctence Center ~n Newport for observation and anth~ottrs.or a new skeleton ior PSU's btology museum. In any case, somethtng has heen learned either by researchers, students or the general puhllc. The Marlne Mammal Slrandlng Network rn Oregon, based at PSU, Oregon State and the University of Oregon, has responded to over 90 an~m~lq in In ilrst rreht monthc ot - -. ~ - operation, says Dvit~cldWith iormer PSU student Don Edtger. Dutiteld ronrdnnatecartivltteq tor the unoer - - - . . - - - Ftsheroe5 Serv~ccand the National Oceanic and Atmo\pherrc Adm~na$trai~(oNnOAAI. In her area. thiny volunteerr arc on call around the clock. but 11'susuallv the same iew who are able to leave lob, iamlly or school to respond to thc always unexpected call,, ray\ Dufiield. - - mes! - "W to the dead, talkm~ The network has already been effective in getting its "Don't touch the seal pups" sage to the public. hen we rend a strandlnp team beach, even when 11'5over a animal, most oi the ttme IS spent . : to people abut what we're dotng. what k l l l d 11or why it'\ out oi the water." explatn5 Duif~rld.But she dwsn't m ~ n dEducat~on Ir her llne of work The qtrandlng network has alreadv heen efiect~veIn genlng its "Don't thc seal pup," rnesbap to the . La51 \prlng, the mrtlta helped spread the word that it is perlectly normal for a pup to be on the beach alone and that 11smother 1s probably iceding it at night. The number of report5 went down th~s ummer, a< d ~ dthe number of seal5 needing rehab~l~tat~osna.~dDuiiteld. Thc icderal Marine Mammal Protertlon Art. pahied In 1976. has also discouraged ctttzenr irom ~nterierlngwith the pup, by imwxlring rttfi penaltier tor even louchtng a marlne mammal, she explained. "But tl's real hard to slap a $10,000 fine on a poar iamlly that's wormed about a seal and doesn't mend to jeopardize the animal." SO~tall comes back to educat~on. And that's where the meanarrum comes In. Oceanariumdream has momentum DuH~eld,who is known nationally ior her gcnetfc research wrth whaler. dolphins and other marlne mammals. has lleen the prlmc mover tnlitnd the growing chon to hr~nga nlalor oceanarturn to Portland. She cnviq~ons a prwately-fundedstate-of-the-art marlne and trcsh-water iac!lilv complete wgth lndoor and outdoor exhtbltr and an educational ~nrtltnte. And the care qhc makes la conislncmg. Debbie Duffield, Biology no large iachty oi this I, p r ~od Wc nal strength5 in "Thpre's absolutely fresh-water or marme scope in the northwe5 have a lot of cduratso~ Portland In the aquatll w h ~ ahre kind of spreaa arouno between the dlfiercnt unlvenltles and schools, and ahrolut~ly no placc for mo5t oi these proiessors to rlo thelr rerearch and tcach~np, - no wet labs. no aquarium set-ups. "An aquatlr lnstltute would offer the educational opportun~ticsstudents need lo take advantage of iome ot the rm~on's other smaller iacilitier." she adds. But Duflield doesn't havc just academlcr in mind. "We need romethlng anour c ~ t ythat's big, that makes the c~tycompetttlve as a , conventtonrenter. An oreanarlum would ~rov~de a lot oi jobs, too " Portland's ties to the Far East could also figure tnto an oceanarium. Dutiteld feels. "We could have some of thew species. we can have exh1h1t5 that <howth~ltr~chn~logva,nd WP can have exchange program5 wherc their students are working over here." Th~s"cultural-b~olopical" elrment would be npw In oceanaria, lays Duti~eld In a proposal resented to the citv a couple oi years ago, DuK~eld recommended a vte at Delta Park where there are "tremendous waterways and you could even a wetlands habitat area." By le thc land to a private concern, t would havc revenue to develol rest ol the park lor sports or otl recreat~onaul ser, suggested DL "The wonderiul thing Is, the taxpa wouldn't have to pay ior ~ t " 'rhe r City Council has glven ~ t suppr to the concept and the Portland P. Bureau 15 currently complet~ng an economic feaa~bil~tsytudy oi what 15 calltny an "aquatic i h ~ r n ?park Camm~silonerMlke Lindherg k to make an announcement oft cjty's fntentronr ~n September. Occar~anallyd!ccouraged bk slow wheels oi government an* husmesc. Duifield rematn, hop There Ir clearly a peramal intp work here, slnre an oc~anariu~ would be o i ~ncalculablevalue both the strandnig network an( Dutlield's own research. "I'd love to have some brew programs, and some rppcteq ti- rare and haven't bcen held in captwh/. Not only 15 that a un exhlb~t,but that allows me to I biological work-up on the anlr themselve5, learning a llttle hll about them ecology " They call her Count Dracula As 11 15. Duil~eldhas a work~ng relatoonship w ~ t hvinually all the oceanarla In the Un~tedState,, irom Hawall to Flordda. "I have a walk-in freezer iull of muscle. liver, kidney and blood ramples that oceanarla have glven me. Mort oi the placer I go, when they see me comlng they say. 'Count Dracula 15 here?" It ts a mutually henef~cial arrangement. Duifield can sat~ciyher proie,,fonal curlorlty abut the organtzatton and behavior of marme mammal populations.and thc oceanarm can use her data and d~scoverierto provrde b~tter env~ronmentsior their an<malror more rucceisiul breeding programs For an energetic woman who onre planned to be a veterlnarlan and spent the summer between Po College and Stanford graduatc training dolph~nr,DuH~eldis s u r p r l ~ ~ nc~olnytent at thc microscope. "Whales and dolphins are ! difficult ro nudy ~n the wild bt.~ausc you can't keep up wlth them." says Duifield. whose doctorate n r irom UCLA. "So I've developedways to look at populations based on protein proiiles and chromoromc proirle5 oi the indiv~duals, and can tell someth~nga b u t the rclat~onships betwcen thorc ~ndiv~dualsIt. gives me k~ndoia prek ~ntothme populat~on\ ~n a way I never got hpiore:' For instanre. Duifteld and her asstitants are workrng w~tha Un~vcr<~otyf Cal~iornia-SantaCruz Continued on page 10 Nmona , school dery ... ~- l o p hc , the d eful. .--. . 11ng #at are tque l o nals more yerr ay5. n ~ r k It set up asing he rlty 1 the wr ~ti~eld. 6 PSU Per~pcl~ve. Somm~r 1985
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