RESEARCH & CONSERVATION

Steve McCulloch has two decades of experience as a NOAA Fisheries co-investigator with authorization to conduct marine mammal population and acoustic surveys of dolphins and critically endangered North Atlantic Right whales.

Steve is the Principal Investigator of the Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder (DPMMR) Photo ID Program, which conducts monthly surveys of the Florida Keys dolphin population. In addition, in an ongoing collaborative effort since 2010, McCulloch and other members of the Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Program (MMRC) have been conducting focal behavioral and passive acoustic follows of North Atlantic right whales.

In 2003, with the late Dr. Gregory Bossart, McCulloch created the Georgia Aquarium Dolphin Health and Environment Risk Assessment Project (HERA), which was developed to determine dolphin health patterns in nature and their potential impact on humans.. HERA research is conducted under authorization of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Steve has led fifteen complex dolphin health and environmental risk assessments requiring management and logistical coordination of more than one hundred support staff. These activities involve ongoing collaborations with world-class scientists from around the globe.