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A life-long fascination with marine mammals led Cath Atkin into her dream job as a dolphin trainer. By Michelle Camissar.



For Cath Atkin, the ocean has always held a special
fascination. As a child, she spent many a blissful summer
exploring rock pools with her brother, marvelling at the marine life therein. In primary school, when most girls were still dreaming of being ballet dancers and princesses, Cath already knew she wanted to be a marine biologist. Today, she believes she has the best job in the world, working as a marine mammal trainer with the dolphins at Sea World.



6am Cath starts her day bright and early with an hour-long walk with her two dogs, Harvey and Lilly. They are eight-year-old black Labradors that Cath rescued from the pound and now afford Cath the perfect opportunity to incorporate some brisk exercise into her busy day. “Harvey and Lilly have a lot of energy to burn,” Cath laughs. If she has time, Cath will also try to squeeze in a quick cup of coffee and a catch-up chat with her friend and fellow
marine mammal trainer, Tacha Mulligan, before work.



8am Cath begins her day at Sea World with the task of preparing the dolphins’ fish for the following day; it is then left overnight to defrost. Each dolphin’s food is weighed individually and then placed into his or her own bucket so the trainers know exactly how much each must eat in the day. “How much a dolphin eats really depends on its size and the time of year. A mature adult offshore bottlenose dolphin eats about 10 to 12 kilos of fish per day over five feeds, while smaller animals may need only five to eight kilos,” Cath explains. “Some have voracious appetites and
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they can just eat and eat, so we try to keep their weight in a range that’s suitable for their length and the time of year,” she says.



Cath began her career at Sea World as a volunteer in
education, followed by a stint assisting the vet, so she’s a keen advocate of keeping the dolphins in her care healthy.



9am Cath heads off to the dolphin nursery for the first feed of the day. As she walks along the boardwalk, fish bucket in hand, a pair of expectant faces pops up from out of the water, flanked closely by two of Sea World’s newest members. They are Hallie and Salty, with babies Noah and Huey. Cath feeds about four different dolphins each day, although these constantly change so that none of them will become too dependent on one particular trainer. “The first feed of the day is the most important because we get to see what sort of mood each animal is in,” says Cath.



Mothers Salty and Hallie appear in excellent moods today and are keen to show Cath their fine ‘table’ manners. They know
Cath will only give them food if they have their mouths up out of the water and open, await their turn patiently and don’t snatch. Baby Huey, who was born in April this year and is still suckled by his mother, has begun to show interest in fish, so Cath holds one under the water to see what he will do. Huey is decidedly keen, but just before he can get it into his mouth, his mother Salty rushes up and eats it herself as if to say, “You’re not ready yet, Huey.” But Huey doesn’t give up and on his third attempt, he manages to get hold of the fish before his mum can interfere. “Well done, Huey,” Cath exclaims and calls out excitedly to the
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