Dear colleagues,
I am pleased to announce our new article in Frontiers in Marine Science Special Issue
in Small Cetacean Conservation: Current Challenges and Opportunities:
Parra, G. J., K. Bilgmann, K. J. Peters, and L. M. Möller. 2021. Abundance and Potential Biological Removal of Common Dolphins Subject to Fishery Impacts in South Australian Waters. Front. Mar. Sci., 09 September 2021 |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.617075
ABSTRACT
Conservation management of wildlife species should be underpinned by knowledge of their distribution and abundance, as well as impacts of human activities on their populations and habitats. Common dolphins (Delphinus
delphis) are subject to incidental capture in a range of Australia’s commercial fisheries including gill netting, purse seining and mid-water trawling. The impact these fishery interactions have on common dolphin populations is uncertain, as estimates
of abundance are lacking, particularly for the segments of the populations at risk of bycatch and in greater need of protection. Here we used double-observer platform aerial surveys and mark-recapture distance sampling methods to estimate the abundance of
common dolphins in 2011 over an area of 42,438 km2 in central South Australia, where incidental mortality of common dolphins due to fisheries bycatch is the highest. We also used the potential biological removal (PBR) method to estimate sustainable
levels of human-caused mortality for this segment of the population. The estimated abundance of common dolphins was 21,733 (CV = 0.25; 95% CI = 13,809–34,203) in austral summer/autumn and 26,504 in winter/spring (CV = 0.19; 95% CI = 19,488–36,046). Annual
PBR estimates, assuming a conservative maximum population growth rate of Rmax = 0.02 and a recovery factor of Fr = 0.5 for species of unknown conservation status, ranged from 189 (summer/autumn) to 239 dolphins (winter/spring),
and from 378 (summer/autumn) to 478 dolphins (winter/spring) with an Rmax = 0.04. Our results indicate that common dolphins are an abundant dolphin species in waters over the central South Australian continental shelf (up to 100 m deep).
Based on the 2011 abundance estimates of this species, the highest estimated bycatch of common dolphins (423 mortalities in 2004/05) in the southern Australian region exceeded the precautionary PBR estimates for this population segment. Recent bycatch levels
appear to be below PBR estimates, but low observer coverage and underreporting of dolphin mortalities by fishers means that estimates of dolphin bycatch rates are not robust. The effects of cumulative human impacts on common dolphins are not well understood,
and thus we recommend a precautionary management approach to manage common dolphin bycatch based on local abundance estimates.
The article is an open access publication accessible to readers anywhere in the world:
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.617075
All the best,
Guido
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Guido J. Parra, PhD
Associate Professor | College of Science and Engineering
Research leader | Cetacean Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Lab (CEBEL)
Staff:
http://www.flinders.edu.au/people/guido.parra
@GuidoJParra
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Flinders University, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001 Australia
Tel: +61 8 8201 3565|email:
guido.parra@flinders.edu.au
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