{"id":57047,"date":"2015-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2015-uri-oceanography-student-examines-the-science-of-marine-mammal-strandings\/"},"modified":"2015-04-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2015-uri-oceanography-student-examines-the-science-of-marine-mammal-strandings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/commencement-2015-uri-oceanography-student-examines-the-science-of-marine-mammal-strandings\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2015: äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ oceanography student examines the science of marine mammal strandings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tPlymouth resident to earn master\u2019s degree at May 16 commencement<\/b><\/p>\n

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 April 23, 2015 \u2013 It\u2019s not unusual for C.T. Harry to get calls from his office at any hour of the day or night. He has even been called in several times on Christmas Day. But he doesn\u2019t regret it at all, because every call could be a life-or-death situation.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Plymouth, Mass. resident helps lead the marine mammal stranding response team of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, coming to the aid of whales, seals, dolphins and porpoises that become stranded on beaches throughout Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts.<\/p>\n


\n\tHe is also a part-time student at the äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, from which he will receive a master\u2019s degree during commencement ceremonies May 16. The thesis he wrote for his degree mirrors the professional work he has been doing for the last dozen years.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI wanted to take a step back from the health aspect of why animals strand and look at whether there were broader scale climatological or oceanographic correlations that could influence dolphin strandings on a longer-term scale,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Harry analyzed the frequency of dolphin strandings in the Northeast and linked it to variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation, an atmospheric phenomenon that creates fluctuations in atmospheric pressure over the North Atlantic and affects weather patterns and oceanographic currents.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a big atmospheric driver that has been shown to influence the distribution and abundance of marine life,\u201d Harry explained. \u201cIf the North Atlantic Oscillation can do that, then maybe it has something to do with shifting dolphin populations from offshore to inshore coastal waters where they then would have an increased risk of stranding.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nHis research found that hypothesis to be true, though he speculates that the oscillation likely contributes to a redistribution of prey species that could determine whether dolphins remain offshore in deeper waters or near-shore in areas such as Cape Cod Bay.<\/p>\n


\n\tA native of Suffolk, Va., Harry became interested in marine mammal strandings when working at the Virginia Aquarium and volunteering for its stranding program, which focused mostly on bottlenose dolphins and sea turtles. He spent four summers doing field research on sea turtle stranding mortality on the eastern shore of Virginia, racing around the barrier islands in a 15-foot Zodiac looking for beached turtles and trying to determine why they stranded. He eventually relocated to Cape Cod to continue this work.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe beauty of this gig is that no two days are ever the same,\u201d he said. \u2018I could be analyzing data in the office one minute and get a call about a live dolphin stranded out at Wellfleet, and I just have to pick up and go.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tDespite his thesis results, Harry knows that marine mammals may strand for any number of reasons. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe historic dogma about live stranded animals, especially dolphins, was that something was wrong with them, and the majority were euthanized,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd while a lot of animals do strand due to various health issues, we\u2019re finding many that strand for factors unrelated to their health, like their navigational abilities may have been compromised.\u201d And because dolphins are social animals, they could follow a sick or compromised animal right onto the beach.<\/p>\n


\n\tStrandings may also be an indication that something is going wrong in the larger marine ecosystem. \u201cMarine mammals are sentinel species. If we start seeing a lot of animals that wash ashore showing signs of similar pathologies, then that may be an indication that something bigger is wrong in their environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\n\tAfter taking five years to complete his master\u2019s degree, taking one class at a time, Harry is taking some time to think about his future.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThis degree is a big milestone for me, both personally and professionally,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t expect it to lead to any life-altering career changes. But down the road I may want to explore some of the policy angles that have conservation implications. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cWith offshore wind farms and offshore oil and gas exploration, industry and government are going to need someone who understands marine mammal population dynamics. And I would love to be the guy to be the bridge between the science and policymakers.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plymouth resident to earn master\u2019s degree at May 16 commencement NARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 April 23, 2015 \u2013 It\u2019s not unusual for C.T. Harry to get calls from his office at any hour of the day or night. He has even been called in several times on Christmas Day. But he doesn\u2019t regret it at all, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}