Cold Spring Harbor High School,

Cold Spring Harbor, NY

Some of themost charismatic sea mammals are the dolphins. These intelligent creatures havevery personable characteristics, inspiring awe in most humans who come to knowthem. It is a painful reality that dolphins deaths occur in astounding numberseach year as a result of net-fishing practices.

A possible solution tothe problem of dolphins being trapped in commercial fishing nets is a system ofwarning devices that would divert dolphins from the area to safety. The warningsystem, which would be specific to dolphins, would make use of their existingform of communication. It would incorporate actual dolphin vocalization totransmit danger signals throughout the dolphin schools. Studies have identifiedthat there are recognizable variations in the dolphin language of clicks andbeeps depending on their mood and emotion.

This paper proposes thedevelopment of a submersible speaker system which plays a recorded warningmessage. This device would be deployed with standard fishing nets to repeldolphins from fishing areas. The submersible device emits pre-recorded clicks andbeeps of dolphins in distress or extreme danger thus causing a school of dolphinsto retreat to safety. Preventing unnecessary dolphin deaths betters the worldcommunity, fulfills a moral responsibility and is fully within the reach ofscience and technology.