image: River dolphin leaping out of the water. view more
Credit: F. da Silva VM
Populations of freshwater dolphins in the Amazon basin are in steep decline, dropping by half about every decade at current rates, according to a study published May 2, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Vera da Silva from Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, and colleagues.
The Amazon basin is home to two species of river dolphins -- the boto (Inia geoffrensis) and the tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis) -- that were once considered to be abundant in some places. However, the development of dolphin hunting to provide fish bait at around the beginning of this millennium and a Data Deficient IUCN Red List conservation status suggest that more information is needed about their current population numbers and trends. To assess the status of these freshwater dolphins, da Silva and colleagues analyzed data from 22 years of surveys in the Mamirauá Reserve, Brazil. The dolphins were surveyed by boat monthly from 1994 to 2017.
The analysis revealed that populations of both boto and tucuxi Amazonian dolphins are dropping rapidly. At current rates, boto populations are halving every 10 years, and tucuxi populations are halving every nine years. These rates of decline are some of the most severe of those known for cetaceans since the early years of modern whaling. The researchers conclude that if IUCN Red List criteria were applied based on this work, both species would be classified as Critically Endangered. River dolphins are legally protected in the Amazon basin, and given these findings, the researchers call for greater enforcement of these laws.
###
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191304
Citation: F. da Silva VM, Freitas CEC, Dias RL, Martin AR (2018) Both cetaceans in the Brazilian Amazon show sustained, profound population declines over two decades. PLoS ONE 13(5): e0191304. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191304
Funding: Projeto Boto receives the sponsorship of the AMPA/Petrobras Ambiental Program, INPA/MCTIC and by the AMPA/MPF-TC No. 02/2015-TAC, No. 003/2014. RLD received an INPA/PCI scholarship during part of the study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Journal
PLoS ONE