TY - JOUR
T1 - Challenges and priorities for river cetacean conservation
AU - Campbell, Elizabeth
AU - Alfaro-Shigueto, Joanna
AU - Aliaga-Rossel, Enzo
AU - Beasley, Isabel
AU - Briceño, Yurasi
AU - Caballero, Susana
AU - da Silva, Vera M.F.
AU - Gilleman, Cédric
AU - Gravena, Waleska
AU - Hines, Ellen
AU - Khan, Mohd Shahnawaz
AU - Khan, Uzma
AU - Kreb, Danielle
AU - Mangel, Jeffrey C.
AU - Marmontel, Miriam
AU - Mei, Zhigang
AU - Mintzer, Vanessa J.
AU - Mosquera-Guerra, Federico
AU - Oliveira-da-Costa, Marcelo
AU - Paschoalini, Mariana
AU - Paudel, Shambhu
AU - Sinha, Ravindra Kumar
AU - Smith, Brian D.
AU - Turvey, Samuel T.
AU - Utreras, Victor
AU - Damme, Paul André Van
AU - Wang, Ding
AU - Whitty, Tara Sayuri
AU - Thurstan, Ruth H.
AU - Godley, Brendan J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The authors 2022. Open Access under Creative Commons by Attribution Licence. Use, distribution and reproduction are un - restricted. Authors and original publication must be credited
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - River cetaceans are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts due to their constrained ranges in freshwater systems of China, South Asia, and South America. We undertook an exhaustive review of 280 peer-reviewed papers and grey literature reports (1998−2020) to examine the current status of knowledge regarding these cetaceans and their conservation. We aimed to better understand the scale of threats they face, and to identify and propose priority future efforts to better conserve these species. We found that the species have been studied with varying frequency and that most of the research on threats has focused on habitat degradation and fragmentation (43%, mainly driven by dams and extractive activities such as sand mining and deforestation), and fishery interactions (39%, in the form of bycatch and direct take). These threats occur across all species, but more information is needed, primarily on quantifying the population impacts as a basis for designing mitigation measures. Other threats identified include pollution, vessel collisions, traditional use, and poorly managed tourism. Emerging methods such as environmental DNA and unmanned aerial vehicles are described for studying these species. Promising conservation inter - ventions include cetacean-specific protected areas, natural ex situ protection, community-led conservation, and education programmes. However, transnational political will is required for a step change towards broad-scale protection in freshwater environments.
AB - River cetaceans are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts due to their constrained ranges in freshwater systems of China, South Asia, and South America. We undertook an exhaustive review of 280 peer-reviewed papers and grey literature reports (1998−2020) to examine the current status of knowledge regarding these cetaceans and their conservation. We aimed to better understand the scale of threats they face, and to identify and propose priority future efforts to better conserve these species. We found that the species have been studied with varying frequency and that most of the research on threats has focused on habitat degradation and fragmentation (43%, mainly driven by dams and extractive activities such as sand mining and deforestation), and fishery interactions (39%, in the form of bycatch and direct take). These threats occur across all species, but more information is needed, primarily on quantifying the population impacts as a basis for designing mitigation measures. Other threats identified include pollution, vessel collisions, traditional use, and poorly managed tourism. Emerging methods such as environmental DNA and unmanned aerial vehicles are described for studying these species. Promising conservation inter - ventions include cetacean-specific protected areas, natural ex situ protection, community-led conservation, and education programmes. However, transnational political will is required for a step change towards broad-scale protection in freshwater environments.
KW - Bycatch
KW - Dams
KW - Dolphin−fishery interactions
KW - Emerging methods
KW - Management
KW - Research prioritisation
KW - River dolphins
KW - Threat
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140020198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3354/esr01201
DO - 10.3354/esr01201
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85140020198
SN - 1863-5407
VL - 49
SP - 13
EP - 42
JO - Endangered Species Research
JF - Endangered Species Research
ER -