Each month, on multiple occasions, we follow a predetermined route in the Peel-Harvey looking for dolphins.
We usually start at the natural entrance to the estuary, travel down Stick’s channel into the Peel Inlet, then down to the southern end of the Harvey and finishing at the man-made opening to the estuary, the Dawesville Cut.
Along this route we always encounter multiple groups of dolphins and are able to quickly identify each of the Peel-Harvey residents.
Although coastal dolphins are frequently observed around both of the openings to the estuary, it is very rare to see them in the Peel Inlet or down the Harvey estuary itself.
Since we started our study in January 2016 we have only observed two coastal individuals, Disney and Yorkie, in the Peel-Harvey.
Yorkie was observed once in May 2016 and Disney once in July 2018 in the Peel Inlet.
They were both observed in a group, foraging, with the same six adult estuary resident males and a mother and calf pair.
Typically Yorkie and Disney are observed in Comet Bay with other coastal individuals.
We do not know whether they are male or female.
Disney also had a relatively recent non-life threatening shark bite wound on her body.
In April 2016 a third coastal dolphin, which was an adult male, was found live stranded in the Harvey estuary.
This dolphin, who we had not observed before, has since been observed a few times in coastal waters just outside and south of the Dawesville Cut, but never again in the estuary.
We do not know what initially brought these coastal visitors into the estuary.
They could have come for a feed, to explore, find shelter or to socialise.
And it is not just the coastal dolphins who visit the estuary, as this month we also observed a sea lion feeding half way down the Harvey estuary.
As we continue our research we hope to better understand how the coastal and estuary dolphins interact with each other.
