Crucial Lives On The Earth .

Chapter 13

They are found worldwide, mostly in shallow seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. Dolphin coloration varies, but they are generally gray in color with darker backs than the rest of their bodies.
Dolphins live in saltwater but they can also live in freshwater locations. Only a handful of the species though are known to thrive in freshwater regions. They tend to stick to the shallow areas of the water found along the continental shelves.

As climate change causes the seas and oceans to warm, dolphins are being seen more frequently in colder waters outside their historic ranges. Due to rapidly rising ocean temperatures, dolphins’ primary food sources are seeking deeper, cooler waters. Scientists are concerned that dolphins will have difficulty adapting as quickly as necessary to find new feeding grounds to sustain their populations. Some dolphins that live in areas where rivers and oceans meet, known as brackish waters, are also losing habitat as ocean levels rise due to global warming.

Defenders fights any attempt to weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act and all the protections it affords marine mammals like dolphins.

Defenders serves as a conservation member of the Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Team, a stakeholder group convened under the MMPA to advise the National Marine Fisheries Service on how to reduce fisheries bycatch of this species. They are currently litigating to challenge seismic blasting in the Atlantic Ocean that risks harming and killing thousands of dolphins.