The second groundbreaking study of Bermuda?s dolphin population is being undertaken by Dolphin Quest Bermuda.

This year?s study followed results from last year which included that local dolphins could dive to depths of over 1,626 feet and easily swim around the entire Island in a day.

Dolphin Quest spokesman Jeff Jouett said the aim of this year?s offshore expedition was to fit wild dolphins with satellite-linked time and depth transmitters.

Although no dolphins had yet been fitted with transceivers he said ?they were getting very close?.

He said that the dolphins are not injured during the experiment.

?Sometimes they surf up to the bow of the boat,? he said. ?They are very friendly. When they get close, we have a hoop net that we slip over the dolphins? heads as they jump near us. As they jump into the net we whisk them onto a rubber mat ever so briefly. It takes less than five minutes to put on the satellite tag, take a blood sample, measure them and then release,? he said.

The tags are fitted to the dolphins dorsal fins and record the direction and distances the animals travel each day and the depths to which they dive.

And he reported that Dolphin Quest thought the number of dolphins around Bermuda was on the rise.

?One of the fishermen told us that until eight years ago, there were few if any reports of dolphins. But recently not a day goes by that a dolphin is sighted,? he said.

However, even after a week of searching eight hours a day, with the help of local fishermen and ten pairs of ?eagle-eyed? volunteers, it took the researchers a week to to see their first dolphins.

He said that Dolphin Quest was ?very curious? about the local dolphin population particularly after the ?eye-opening? findings of last year that was ?one of the first open ocean studies on dolphins ever recorded,? he said.

?But this time, we are studying the dolphins in a different month to see if their movements are related to the seasons,? he said.

Because of a grant provided by The Ministry of the Environment, schoolchildren can chart the dolphin?s progress at http://dolphinquest.org/bermudatracking/ online.

?Bermuda schoolchildren will be following the local dolphins? travels on the Internet and using the daily dolphin movements to enliven lessons of maths and science,? he said.