Interactions between small cetaceans and Peruvian fisheries in 1988/89 and analysis of trends

In 1988 and 1989 the authors monitored the fish terminal of Pucusana. The estimated total yearly cetacean kills (1988/1989) at this port are 2289 (SE = 130) and 2320 (SE = 117) animals, including 1725/1893 dusky dolphins Lagenorhynchus obscurus, 383/331 Burmeister's porpoises Phocoena spinipinnis, 155/57 common dolphins Delphinus delphis, 18/31 bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus, and 8/8 specimens of other species. There has been a steady decline in small cetacean catches for the entire coast of Peru, from an estimated 9700 animals in 1985 to 5500 in 1988; the reason for this is unknown. -from Authors