TY - CHAP
T1 - Assessment of the conservation status of the Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin (Sousa plumbea) Using the IUCN red list criteria
AU - Braulik, Gill T.
AU - Findlay, Ken
AU - Cerchio, Salvatore
AU - Baldwin, Robert
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Indian Ocean humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) are obligate shallow-water dolphins that occur exclusively in the near-shore waters of the Indian Ocean, from South Africa to the Bay of Bengal. They have a narrow habitat preference, restricted distribution and do not appear very abundant across any part of their range. There is no estimate of total species abundance; all populations that have been quantitatively evaluated have been small in size, usually fewer than 200 individuals. Fishing, dredging, land reclamation, construction blasting, port and harbour construction, pollution, boat traffic and other coastal development activities all occur, or are concentrated within, humpback dolphin habitat and threaten their survival. Although data are far from sufficient to make a rigorous quantitative assessment of population trends for this species, the scale of threats is large enough over a significant enough portion of the range to suspect or infer a decline of at least 50% over three generations, which qualifies it for listing on the IUCN Red List as Endangered. The issue primarily responsible is incidental mortality in fisheries, but the loss and degradation of habitat is likely a contributing factor. None of the threats have been adequately addressed in any part of the species' range, even though threat levels are increasing virtually everywhere.
AB - Indian Ocean humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) are obligate shallow-water dolphins that occur exclusively in the near-shore waters of the Indian Ocean, from South Africa to the Bay of Bengal. They have a narrow habitat preference, restricted distribution and do not appear very abundant across any part of their range. There is no estimate of total species abundance; all populations that have been quantitatively evaluated have been small in size, usually fewer than 200 individuals. Fishing, dredging, land reclamation, construction blasting, port and harbour construction, pollution, boat traffic and other coastal development activities all occur, or are concentrated within, humpback dolphin habitat and threaten their survival. Although data are far from sufficient to make a rigorous quantitative assessment of population trends for this species, the scale of threats is large enough over a significant enough portion of the range to suspect or infer a decline of at least 50% over three generations, which qualifies it for listing on the IUCN Red List as Endangered. The issue primarily responsible is incidental mortality in fisheries, but the loss and degradation of habitat is likely a contributing factor. None of the threats have been adequately addressed in any part of the species' range, even though threat levels are increasing virtually everywhere.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84955715865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/bs.amb.2015.08.004
DO - 10.1016/bs.amb.2015.08.004
M3 - Chapter
C2 - 26555624
AN - SCOPUS:84955715865
T3 - Advances in Marine Biology
SP - 119
EP - 141
BT - Advances in Marine Biology
PB - Academic Press/Elsevier
ER -