LEWES, Del. - It happens every year on the third weekend in July and this year marks its 25th year, the MERR, Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute's Dolphin Count.
Dolphin counting is a process facilitated by MERR to keep track of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin species in the Delaware waters.
At the beaches the volunteers use a counting sheet and document all the activity at the beach, including human, birds and anything that can disturb or effect the dolphins.
Suzanne Thurman, the executive director at MERR said this event is vital to making sure the dolphins are safe.
"This helps us to see if the population is remaining stable or if it's not," Thurman said. "All of the information is then fed into a bigger body of knowledge on the bottlenose dolphins."
Gary Nennstiehl's said this is his fourth year volunteering and he's from the Lewes area, so he feels it's only right he give something back to ocean and the marine life who inhabit it.
"We are monitoring the condition of our marine animals, they're under a lot of stress from human interaction from boats and other predators," Nennstiehl said. "As much as we can, we need to try to help protect the dolphins."
The day brought out a new volunteer, Carol White who said this experience should remind everyone of the bigger picture.
"This process is great because of three things, one it's aesthetic, just beautiful," White said. "Number two it's ethical, it's an important thing to do and number three it's self fulfilling, just in terms of knowing that you're connected to other forms of life and other humans enjoying this process."
The dolphin counting was done all along the eastern shore in Delaware and MERR said they won't have the full count for a few weeks. But if anyone is interested in dolphin counting, they start taking names in June.