Tony Bartram is on a mission, to re-engage students in education by studying and caring for dolphins.
His enthusiasm for Dolphin Watch is contagious and the word is spreading around Australia and beyond.
From humble beginnings just over three years ago, the program has won numerous educational and science awards, been the subject of foreign filming, visits by international students and spawned a number of sister projects.
Along with the 148 Kangaroo Island students who have taken part in Dolphin Watch, a further 130 community members on Kangaroo Island, visiting parliamentarians, university students and international scientists have all taken a ride on local waters to see KI dolphins close up.
Now Dolphin Watch is a finalist again in the prestigious national Banksia Awards, widely considered the pre-eminent environmental awards in Australia. In a few weeks, Mr Bartram and wife Phyll will travel to Melbourne to represent Dolphin Watch and its “Uniting to Change the Tide” entry at the awards.
A win, though unlikely in this “David and Goliath” battle, would give the program a higher profile and attract more support, something the Bartrams are always seeking.
The seeds of Dolphin Watch were sown by the couple’s daughter Heidi, who contacted world-renowned dolphin expert Mike Bossley several years ago in her role as a Coast Care facilitator.
Heidi still takes a strong interest in Dolphin Watch from her role as a biosecurity policy officer in the marine habitat section of PIRSA, and volunteers her own time to the project.
Much of the financial support for Dolphin Watch comes form philanthropic sources but has been supplemented by award monies, most notably $10,000 from a Women’s Weekly Local Heroes Award and $5000 from the Federal Environment Minister’s Award for Coastal Custodians.
A presentation Mr Bartram made in Townsville last year at the International Pacific Marine Education Network also lifted the profile of Dolphin Watch, which is highly valued and works closely with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
But the hands-on support comes from the Bartrams, retired teachers who have made a long-term commitment to the project, and Andrew Neighbour of KI Marine Tours, whose “banana boat” has hosted every one of almost more than 70 school and community Dolphin Watch tours so far.
More than 160 pages of data have been collected from the KI trips in Nepean Bay, Bay of Shoals, Dashwood Bay, Hog Bay and Middle River, with students from all three campuses taking photos and recording data. More than 80 individual dolphins have been identified and the knowledge of their feeding patterns, travelling habits and family groups grows with each trip.
All of it will soon be loaded onto a website for public access. A small group of year 11 students at Kingscote campus is designing templates and compiling data, writing programs as part of their SACE so that the website can capture data from dolphin watchers around the world.
Next week, Mr Bartram will travel to the other key Dolphin Watch sites in Whyalla and Port Pirie to work with students there and then on to Sydney to start a new project.
His goal is to take the program worldwide. He is passionate about the future of the ocean and the implications for humans of ocean health.
“We want to re-engage students in education through the environment and real science, which has been lost through conventional education. What happens in our oceans is happening to us. It’s a matter of survival, not just for the dolphins but for all of us. This project speaks to them spiritually and lifts self-esteem,” Mr Bartam said.
“Its greatest strength lies in the potential to draw communities together with a sense of common purpose regarding the welfare of their environment and therefore, ultimately of themselves.”
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