According to Environmentalgraffiti.com:

Live dolphins fetch a few hundred dollars each for the fishermen who capture them, but once shipped abroad and trained they are bought and sold for about $30,000.

I paid $26,000 for my first dolphin. Plus another $6,000 in travel expenses for its handlers. The best piece of advice I can give anyone looking to get started in dolphin fighting is to not spend too much on your first dolphin. Like a first car, a first dolphin will likely get hurt or destroyed in the first 6 months of live fights. You can save tons of cash by heading straight to the dolphin hunting source, instead of dealing with the money hungry dolphin dealers who prowl the fighting circuit for first timers.