Four Dolphin Quest boats searched for bottlenose dolphins on Wednesday hoping to find more information about their presence in local waters.

"We know so little about how dolphins play a part in Bermuda waters that we wanted to know what features and resources they like about the water here," said Dr. Randy Wells.

Dr. Wells, a dolphin researcher from Sarasota, Florida, was joined by Dolphin Quest and San Diego State University graduate student Leigh Klatsky to tag the dolphins in order to investigate their movements over a two-to three-month period, a Dolphin Quest news release said.

The release said the tags, which would be attached to three of the dolphins, will contain satellite-linked radio transmitters so the researchers can investigate the wild dolphins' movements and the features in the water they desire most.

The tracking of these dolphins will create greater awareness about the movement, activity and behaviours of the dolphins in offshore waters such as Bermuda.

Bermuda was chosen for research because of the direct deep water access, which these wild dolphins prefer, so it will be easier to tag them, the release said.

The tracking devices have been tested on dolphins over the past six to seven years, Dr. Wells said. "But those tests only monitored dolphins who were released after rehab."

The boats went out this week in hopes of finding the dolphins in areas, which were points where dolphins had been sited, Dr. Wells said, but the weather was more choppy than the researchers had thought it would be.

"We were able to go out and see how the equipment would work in the conditions but of course it would have been nice if we had been able to tag some dolphins," Dr. Wells said.