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Illegal dolphin feeding
The issue of illegal dolphin feeding around Panama City, Florida is once again rearing its head as summer boating season approaches. The problem is growing and the law is simply not being enforced.
The illegal dolphin feeding industry began with glass bottomed boat tours in the Panama City area in the late 1980s and many of the operators advertise swimming with the dolphins which is also illegal. Six warnings were issued for illegal feeding last year but no operator was fined. Feeding dolphins encourages them to beg, upsets their natural role as hunters and alters their diets. Feeding them is a threat to humans, too. Dolphins sometimes become aggressive when seeking food and are known to bite when teased. Female dolphins have been known to pass this learned behaviour onto their calves and other dolphins they interact with.
 Issues of enforcement need to be addressed, but public outreach and education are essential. Human-fed dolphins not only change their normal wild behaviour but run a greater risk of being injured by boats, becoming entangled in fishing gear, or ingesting dangerous items such as fishing hooks and contaminated food. Some of the dolphins have become so accustomed to receiving routine handouts, they are now taking fishing bait and catches from recreational and commercial fishermen. In one recent instance off the Florida panhandle, a bottlenose dolphin distracted by taking fish from a recreational fisherman was attacked by a large shark.
The 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act made it illegal to "harass, hunt, capture or kill any marine mammal." Harassment is defined as any act "causing a disruption of behavioural patterns - including feeding.
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