Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies

Abstract Amidst growing animal rights movements, the release of captive cetaceans, particularly killer whales and dolphins, into their natural environments has gained increasing support from activists due to ethical concerns. However, there is a notable lack of quantitative studies on the interactio...

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Main Authors: Changsoo Kim, Byung-Yeob Kim, Dong-Guk Paeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06173-9
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author Changsoo Kim
Byung-Yeob Kim
Dong-Guk Paeng
author_facet Changsoo Kim
Byung-Yeob Kim
Dong-Guk Paeng
author_sort Changsoo Kim
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Amidst growing animal rights movements, the release of captive cetaceans, particularly killer whales and dolphins, into their natural environments has gained increasing support from activists due to ethical concerns. However, there is a notable lack of quantitative studies on the interactions between wild and captive dolphins during rehabilitation before release. This study assesses the rehabilitation process of captive dolphin during its stay in the sea pen using advanced surveillance techniques. Methods including CCTV, hydrophone monitoring, and drone observations were utilized to document interactions between rehabilitating and wild dolphins. A convolutional neural network-based detector for dolphin whistle sound was used to automatically detect the whistle from underwater sound recorded at the rehabilitation site, which significantly expedited the identification of wild dolphin encounters compared to traditional manual methods. This technology also facilitated synchronized analysis of underwater sounds, CCTV footage, and drone videos, providing comprehensive visual and acoustic observations of captive and wild dolphins during encounters. This research offers insights that can guide future dolphin rehabilitation monitoring and release strategies.
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spelling doaj-art-c28b4223c09d45ed966f078945c2ea862025-08-20T03:05:26ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111410.1038/s41598-025-06173-9Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologiesChangsoo Kim0Byung-Yeob Kim1Dong-Guk Paeng2Research Institute for Basic Science, Jeju National UniversityCollege of Ocean Science, Jeju National UniversityOcean System Engineering, Jeju National UniversityAbstract Amidst growing animal rights movements, the release of captive cetaceans, particularly killer whales and dolphins, into their natural environments has gained increasing support from activists due to ethical concerns. However, there is a notable lack of quantitative studies on the interactions between wild and captive dolphins during rehabilitation before release. This study assesses the rehabilitation process of captive dolphin during its stay in the sea pen using advanced surveillance techniques. Methods including CCTV, hydrophone monitoring, and drone observations were utilized to document interactions between rehabilitating and wild dolphins. A convolutional neural network-based detector for dolphin whistle sound was used to automatically detect the whistle from underwater sound recorded at the rehabilitation site, which significantly expedited the identification of wild dolphin encounters compared to traditional manual methods. This technology also facilitated synchronized analysis of underwater sounds, CCTV footage, and drone videos, providing comprehensive visual and acoustic observations of captive and wild dolphins during encounters. This research offers insights that can guide future dolphin rehabilitation monitoring and release strategies.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06173-9Cetacean rehabilitationDolphin release programsSurveillance technologiesWild-captive interactions
spellingShingle Changsoo Kim
Byung-Yeob Kim
Dong-Guk Paeng
Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
Scientific Reports
Cetacean rehabilitation
Dolphin release programs
Surveillance technologies
Wild-captive interactions
title Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
title_full Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
title_fullStr Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
title_full_unstemmed Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
title_short Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
title_sort monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance technologies
topic Cetacean rehabilitation
Dolphin release programs
Surveillance technologies
Wild-captive interactions
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06173-9
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AT donggukpaeng monitoringofwildandrehabilitatingdolphininteractionsduringrehabilitationperiodusingsurveillancetechnologies