Human interactions with dusky dolphins: Harvest, fisheries, habitat alteration, and tourism

Abstract

Dusky dolphins have been hunted off Peru for over three decades, where they are used as fish bait and food for human consumption. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, thousands of dusky dolphins were killed each year in directed hunts using nets and harpoons. In the mid-to-late 1990s, new legislation restricted dolphin harvests, but also made it more difficult to assess the number of dolphins harvested as hunting practices became more clandestine. Direct harvest of dusky dolphins continues today, but it is estimated that the number of dolphins harvested has dropped to less than 1000 per year. Human interactions with dusky dolphins include direct harvest, fisheries, changes to habitat, and tourism. Due to limited population information combined with high levels of direct and indirect mortality from dolphin harvest and fisheries by-catch, dusky dolphins are listed by the IUCN as a species lacking sufficient information to fully assess conservation status. Dusky dolphin tourism has grown substantially over the past two decades. Tourism has the potential to provide conservation benefits by encouraging local communities to preserve healthy dolphin populations and by providing tourists with a greater appreciation for wildlife. Tourism can also affect the daily lives of dolphins, and in extreme cases even impact the health of wild populations. Careful monitoring and regulation of tourism are important to promote development of a truly “dolphin friendly” industry.