THE EDITOR, Sir:WE REFER to an article by Max Lambie titled, "Give Flipper a Chance", published in The Sunday Gleaner of September 29, 2003.
This article is so full of errors that we consider some rebuttal is called for to clarify the issues for readers.
The central error is the statement claiming that Mr. Lambie has an "intimate knowledge of the oceanography of the Cayman Trench", an area of very deep sea lying south of Cuba at the boundary between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate. Mr. Lambie claims that is the second deepest trench in the world, while it is in fact the deepest in the Caribbean there are several deeper in the Pacific. He further applies his erroneous knowledge in an attempt to make statements about dolphins, statements which can prove misleading to persons interested in the ongoing discussions about captive and free-living dolphins in Jamaica.
Mr. Lambie argues that dolphins cannot swim between Cuba and Jamaica, thereby crossing over the deep trench. To support this argument he claims that hot vents in the trench raise the water temperature to "the hottest in the world" a level which dolphins cannot tolerate. This simply is not true.
NO HOT VENTS
The Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, for instance, are hotter. Recent research (2002) carried out by French scientists on the CAYVIC Cruise to the Cayman Trough (the correct geological term rather than trench) found no hot vents in the area. Even where such vents are present (e.g. the East Pacific Rise) they have a negligible effect on the near surface water temperatures, the medium usually frequented by dolphins.
Mr. Lambie further supports his argument by claiming that the water current between Cuba and Jamaica is so strong that a dolphin could not swim in it.
We know of no evidence to show that any such current exists between the two islands and in any event dolphins are very powerful swimmers, unlikely to be troubled by any current around these two islands.
Mr. Lambie further compounds his errors by claiming that while dolphins are common around Pedro Bank there are no pods off the north coast.
This is not true as dolphins are encountered by staff and visitors working out of the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory on the north coast. Mr. Lambie's assertion that there is very little life in deep water is not strictly correct and is scarcely relevant to the issue in question.
FOOD
Dolphins gather most of their food near to the sea surface and probably harvest small pelagic fish such as herring and goggle-eye jack.
Finally, the claim that research vessels from Woods Hole and the Scripps Institute "can be seen offshore in Ocho Rios and visit often" is false, but is used to bolster the claim that he is in close contact with these scientists. Government permission is required before a foreign vessel can conduct research in Jamaican waters, as in the French case noted above when we were given the opportunity to place a Jamaican scientist on board as an observer (Deborah-Ann Rowe).
In conclusion, journalists when writing about subjects with which they are not familiar should take great care when researching their material so that they do not mislead the public.
We are, etc.,
KARL AIKEN (Fisheries Biologist)
IVAN GOODBODY (Professor Emeritus of Zoology)
EDWARD ROBINSON (Professor Emeritus of Geology)
DEBORAH-ANN ROWE (Scientific Observer on the CAYVIC cruise)
GEORGE WARNER (Director of the Centre for Marine Science).
