Separately this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and staff from the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program announced that it has begun monitoring the dolphins in the area surrounding the gypsum stack spill. The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, a leading dolphin research organization, has maintained the world’s longest longitudinal study of dolphins in the wild. Through research measures such as dolphin surveys and seasonal monitoring of dolphin prey fish, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program helps scientists learn about dolphin biology, environmental impacts on their health and reproductive success, their social structure and the effects of human activities.