Because there is no human crew, they can go to hard - to - reach and difficult environments to collect data and help scientists gain a better view of the
state of ocean health and the changing climate.
«The bay is acting as a big mixing bowl where toxins from both fresh and marine water are found together,» said senior author Raphael Kudela, the Lynn
Professor of Ocean Health at UC Santa Cruz.
Nevertheless, they want to track the deaths and identify their causes because dolphins, atop the food chain, help serve as a
barometer of ocean health.
In Scientific American, marine biologist Benjamin Halpern recently described a new
metric of ocean health that will incorporate fishing, recreation, and other human uses of the sea.
Marine biologists have for decades been warning about the state of the world's oceans, and seabird populations are one
measure of ocean health.
«This is really frightening because these animals are sentinels
of ocean health.