Inside Brazil's dolphin paradise - The secret life of noronha spinners

Imagine discovering an oasis in the vastness of the tropical Atlantic. A place with shallow, sheltered, crystal clear waters. Where you could swim peacefully. The nearest continent is more than 300 kilometers away. This must be how the spinner dolphins feel when they reach the island of Fernando de Noronha of northeastern Brazil. The dolphins visit the island almost every day. Here they are already part of the landscape. The most charismatic inhabitant of the most beautiful Brazilian island. Spinner dolphins are truly ocean wanderers. They live in tropical open seas around the world. Some may spend years without seeing land. But these are different. They belong to a population known as the Noronha spinners. Their home is a large area of deep open ocean of northeastern Brazil. Around the islands of Noronha, Roccas Atoll and a few seamounts. But almost every day part of this population visits Noronha. And one place more than anywhere else. Dolphins Bay. This beautiful sheltered area on the northwest coast of the island is a magnet for spinners. Considering the number, frequency of visitation and amount of time the spinners spend here. This could be considered the most visited bay by dolphins anywhere in the world. But why do these oceanic specialists come in such big numbers and so frequently to Noronha? What do they do here? And why does the island seem to be so important for them? The answers to these questions are very important to the future of the Noronha spinners. Since they were not the only ones to discover this paradise. In 1988, a large area of Noronha became a national park. All because of its stunning scenic beauty and amazing array of marine life. Noronha has 14 sandy beaches. One of them, Sancho Bay, is considered the most beautiful in the world. And its warm, crystal clear waters are perfect for diving. More than 170 species of fish can be found in the reefs around the archipelago. And of course, Noronha has a breathtaking sunset. Who wouldn't want to visit such a paradise? Today, Noronha is easily accessible via several daily flights through northeastern Brazil. And tourism is still increasing. The beaches and waters of Noronha are a dream destination for ecotourists and divers. But the arrival of so many people brought big challenges to conservation of marine life in Noronha. Especially for the dolphins. In the last years, dolphins have been mutilated and even killed in accidents from fishing lines and boat propellers. And there are further impacts that few of us realize. Maybe only those who venture underwater do. This means they could lose one of their main ways to sense their surroundings and locate food. They use an internal sonar that is able to sense the distortions of high pitch sounds they emit and produce an image of what is around. Two researchers realized that the Noronha spinners needed special attention. Our concern is that if this growth is disordered, it could cause problems for the dolphins as a change of behavior or even make them no longer come to Fernando de Noronha. We felt the need to create an NGO exclusively focused on the research and conservation of the Noronha dolphins. In 1990, we started the activities of the Rotador Dolphin Project We didn't have a car, we didn't have any means of transportation. We would go by foot to the dolphins' base. We would spend the whole day watching the dolphins sitting on the rocks facing the dolphins. The Spinner Dolphin Project was born. The first observations made by the researchers showed that the spinners usually arrive in Noronha right after sunrise, spend the day in sheltered waters, and return to open ocean in the afternoon. But researchers needed to know much more if they wanted to understand how man could affect the lives of the Noronha spinners. What were the dolphins doing in these sheltered waters? And why did they seem to need Noronha so much? There was only one way to find out. The great difficulty was to understand what was going on. There were so many dolphins in large groups, moving at high speed, groups gathering and separating, so it took us a while to understand that movement and separate the behaviors. To observe the dolphins' natural behavior, the researchers had to improve their diving skills and change their behavior while approaching the pods. Diving with dolphins, to have the least impact possible, has to be what we call an easy dive. Moving slowly, without great agitations of water. And by gently entering the dolphins' world, the researchers finally witnessed some amazing behavior. Some dolphins seemed to get into slow motion, as if they were in trance. Some even closed their eyes. This is the closest these dolphins ever get to sleeping. The slow movement of the tails is just enough to allow the spinners to reach the surface to breathe. Noronha sometimes becomes a large resting sanctuary for the dolphins. But coming to Noronha is much more than finding a place to relax. Mothers here are always busy. Suckling. The milk is expressed right into the calf's mouth. And calves are fully weaned at about one and a half year old. Here, several females with calves swim calmly in small groups. Noronha seems to be a nursing area for the spinners. But in the same area, other dolphins are becoming more active. It's mating time. The courtship starts with a soft touch. When a receptive female is around, the race is on. A large group of males can chase a single female for long distances. Competition is intense. Here in Noronha, the males always place themselves below the female. One female may mate with several males in sequence. For this reason, males never know exactly who their own calf is. In this world of paternal uncertainty, it pays off to be kind and helpful to anyone. And that's why, in this group, all spinners help take care of the young. And in Noronha, something else can get the dolphins' attention. A piece of Sargassum weed. Nobody knows exactly the rules of this game, and if there are actually any. But the dolphins love to catch the floating pieces of seaweed, pass it from one part of their body to another, and even leave it to be caught by another dolphin. And what seems like simple playtime, may actually help the dolphins to socialize and even practice their swimming skills. Some important abilities for a social and agile hunter. And when the spinners visit Noronha, they interact with other inhabitants of the archipelago. Some fishes are actually very grateful to the dolphins. When spinners are around, they get free food. Dolphins' waste is very rich in protein. What a gift! After all, there's no accounting for taste. There are more than 12 species of fish that take advantage of dolphins' waste here. And some can even anticipate the dolphins' behavior. When the spinners swallow water, it means they are about to regurgitate, to get rid of spiky and undigested squid pigs. Fish immediately follow the dolphins. And seconds later, gorge themselves in a cloud of food that is nutritious and easy to swallow. But here, the spinners also show what they are famous for. They are some of the most agile dolphins. And of course, the most incredible marine acrobats. Some say these acrobatics are sort of an exhibition. Who spins more times? Who goes higher? But spinners can go as high as three meters, and spin up to seven times around their bodies. Another use for these moves may be to get rid of unwanted hitchhikers. The remoras. A fish that attaches to the dolphins using a modified fin that works like a suction cup. They can be quite annoying for the dolphins, as they increase the drag and make swimming more demanding. Maybe the acrobatics could dislodge the remoras. Especially when dolphins hit them hard when diving back into the water. After all, what is the main function of these amazing acrobatics for the dolphins? One that we believe the most is that it is a means of communication between them. For each type of jump that the dolphins make, when it enters the water, it produces a stain in a characteristic format. And the dolphins, through their sonar, can see this type of stain and understand the message that is being passed by that jump. All these observations about the dolphins' behavior clearly show that Naronha is an important area for resting, nursing, mating and socializing. Feeding has never been observed in the sheltered waters, suggesting that the spinners come to Naronha for breaks after feeding excursions in open waters. To minimize the disturbance of tourism on the dolphins' behavior, the local authorities, with the aid of the Spinner Dolphin Project, created a management plan for the areas around Naronha. Boats are not allowed to drive too fast near the dolphins, and neither can they repeatedly cross paths between them. And recreational dives with the dolphins are strictly forbidden. The researchers collect data to check whether these rules are keeping the dolphins undisturbed. The number of dolphins visiting Naronha has been carefully monitored for years. The work begins even before the sunrise, when part of the team heads to Dolphins Bay. Environmental data are collected every time the researchers arrive. Information that is important to understand the conditions in which the dolphins maximize their use of the bay. The hard work starts when the dolphins arrive in Naronha, as all of them must be counted. Dolphin passes, researcher clicks. The best time to do it is when dolphins are entering the bay and still swimming in a more organized formation. The researchers also provide free gear and information to the tourists about the dolphins. At the end of the day, all data are analyzed at the Spinner Dolphin Project's headquarters. Here, even each individual dolphin is catalogued. This is possible thanks to the presence of marks and details unique to each individual, like this scar on this dolphin's dorsal fin, which shows that this very same individual visited Naronha in 1991 and again in 2000. All this data are published in scientific journals. And, most importantly, the researchers have frequent meetings where they discuss how this knowledge can help the local authorities to preserve the marine life in Naronha. But, even with all these efforts, in 2006, data on the amount of time the spinners spent in the bay started to indicate that something was off. Researchers were concerned the spinners would leave Dolphin's Bay, or, even worse, the island of Naronha. A further analysis confirmed something that the researchers were afraid of. The time the dolphins spend in the bay reduced drastically after a great increase in the number of boats cruising nearby. Even though the boats were not allowed inside the bay, they were apparently interfering with the dolphins' behavior. Researchers suspected that the noise of the engines was resonating inside the bay, disturbing the spinners. The researchers noticed that the dolphins were apparently shifting to other areas of Naronha. And the team immediately added a new point to monitor the dolphins, the Forte dos Remédios. This is a high lookout, with a view of the northwest coast of the island and the local harbor. This is different from Dolphin's Bay, mainly because of the presence of boats here in the area. At a fort, eight in the morning is rush hour. This is when the tour boats leave the port. A National Park ranger now joins the team. We work together with the ICMBio and the ICMBio inspector, and he does the monitoring. We just guide the boats. Besides orienting the boats, the researchers started a new investigation. So we see the speed at which this boat is approaching, what procedure and maneuver this boat does when it meets the dolphins, and what is their reaction before, during and after the approach of the boats. So we already notice that in boats that approach in a faster way, in boats that have a propeller engine, like boats, the dolphins react in a more intense way. Usually moving away from this boat. With wooden boats that have a propeller engine, the dolphins have a slightly less intense reaction, where they accompany this boat, which is where tourists can see these dolphins. And this engine also does not cause so much impact, because it does not emit so much sound in the water. The sound impact for the dolphins is much lower with the propeller engines. These differences show us that it is possible to navigate close to the dolphins without causing a very big impact. These results will help improve the regulations on boat traffic around the island. But focusing on just where the dolphins are is not enough. The beautiful island of Noronha is a sanctuary for marine life, and the actions on land can also minimize our impacts, not only in the dolphins, but in a whole ecosystem. Sustainable practices and environmental education became big aims for Spinner Dolphin Project, an example that begins at home. The project's headquarters is solar-powered and has a rainwater harvesting system. The production of waste is minimized and recycling is encouraged. Native plants are cultivated, bringing beauty and shade to the building. These ideas were introduced to several guesthouses on the island through offered training programs. Courses on environmental sciences are also frequently held in the local school. All of them have local communities' participation and respect and incorporate traditional culture. But surely the greatest challenge is to find the right environment for the dolphins. What local kid wouldn't love to see Noronha's most special inhabitant? And the best part of watching nature with kids is that they can't hide their excitement. These kids get a chance to explore the waters of Noronha and develop from a young age, abound with the marine inhabitants that share the island they live on. We only take care of what we know and love, and there's no doubt that they love these dolphins. Still in the high cliffs of Noronha, researchers are always observing the spinners. And actions taken towards the conservation of these amazing marine inhabitants seem to be working. These results bring hope for the spinners. But any change in the behavior of these dolphins should be monitored closely. A promise that some dedicated people will certainly keep. No way do we want to block this tourism. On the contrary, we want it to continue for many years, but in a way that the tourists are happy, that the local economy continues to use this form of tour, but that this does not cause any harm to the dolphins. The place and the animal are truly special. The connection between Noronha and the spinner dolphins may be thousands of years old. Nobody knows exactly when the spinners began to visit the archipelago. Certainly, all people who live and visit Noronha hope to maintain this relationship for a long time. Today, this outcome is certainly in our hands. The way we behave on land and in the sea will define whether the island of Fernando de Noronha will keep hosting one of the greatest spectacles of our oceans.