Losing a species that’s only just been found

Original story by Sarah Lucas at ABC Environment

Yesterday we heard the news that a new dolphin species has been found in Australia. But already we know that much needs to be done to protect this as-yet-unnamed species.

YESTERDAY, it was announced a new species of dolphin was found swimming off the Australian coast. By examining the skulls and DNA of hundreds of related dolphins, researchers concluded that there are at least four individual dolphin species.

Previously, all Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins were classified as belonging to a single, globally-spread species, Sousa chinensis. However, biologists are now convinced that the Aussie cousin of Sousa chinensis is a whole new species. This means Australia’s humpbacks dolphins are, like kangaroos and koalas, unique.

It also means that current indications of population size, which group the species as one, exaggerate real population numbers. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), for instance, states that there are probably more than 10,000 Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins globally. There has not been sufficient research to produce a reliable estimate, but the population of Australian humpbacks is presumably much smaller than this, perhaps in the low thousands or below.

According to Tom Jefferson, a conservation biologist based in San Diego, this has major consequences for the conservation status and management of these dolphins. “Right now, the IUCN doesn’t list it in one of the highest threat categories,” he says. “However, if the Australian humpback is indeed split out as a separate species, it’s very likely it would receive a higher risk category.”

Very little is known specifically about the risks these dolphins face, but what we do know is cause for concern. Unlike most dolphins, humpback dolphins live close to the shore where they come in particularly frequent contact with human activity. What’s more, the regions they happen to inhabit, particularly Australia’s north-western coastline, are undergoing extensive development associated with the rapid expansion of the oil, gas and mining industries.

Coastal development poses a whole series of issues for local marine mammals, not least the contamination of their habitats with pollutants, sewerage and even noise (the sonic emissions from heavy shipping traffic can disrupt dolphins’ feeding and breeding).

But the greatest threat of all for inshore dolphins, according to Guido Parra, Leader of the Cetacean Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Lab at Flinders University, is intensive fishing. “The main impact related to fishing is the by-catch of these dolphins in fish or gill nets,” he says. Gill nets entangle and drown thousands of animals, from sea snakes to whales, each year. As not all threatened species by-catch is reported, it’s difficult to know how many dolphins fall victim to fishing nets. But, according to Simon Allen of the Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit, because humpback dolphins live in small, discrete groups which don’t interbreed, the loss of even an individual or two can put a local population at risk of extirpation.

Beyond conservational concerns, fishing nets also inflict enormous suffering on marine animals. We don’t think of the cruelty of fishing gear, but dolphins drown having flesh ripped off them by the sharp nets. There are nets that flense whales alive. They rip off chunks of them over months, and they swim around with wounds until they die. Yet, there are no penalties for entangling marine animals as long as the incident is reported, and therefore little incentive for fishing operations to reduce by-catch.

In 1996, the “Australian Action Plan for Cetaceans” recommended a comprehensive conservation program be initiated for humpback dolphins, including the introduction of appropriate environmental management legislation. Nearly two decades on, there is still no national approach or strategy for the conservation of inshore dolphins.

Scientists specialised in inshore dolphins agree that the first and most urgent step is research to find out more about these relatively unknown species. A better understanding is needed of exactly where they live, and what sort of threats they are facing across their distribution. In the Action Plan, it was estimated that the necessary aerial surveys and habitat studies could be completed for $380,000.

Knowledge of where the dolphins are distributed would open up a range of management options. A priority, says Darren Kindleysides, Director of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, is the establishment of marine reserves covering endangered dolphin habitats. “The science shows that marine reserves work, and we need to invest in them in order to turn around decline in these species,” he says. A network of commonwealth marine reserves, announced by the previous government in 2012, is due to come into effect in July 2014. However, the Coalition has promised to suspend and review the marine park legislation.

Short of marine parks, programs could be introduced to at least reduce the impact of fishing nets in critical habitat areas. In Queensland, for instance, a scheme exists to buy back commercial net fishing licences, and similar schemes could be introduced in target areas where humpback dolphins are concentrated. Greater efforts could also be made to ensure accurate reporting of by-catch of endangered dolphins (in a major step backward, the Queensland government has abolished its Fisheries Observer Program, which provided an independent source of data on fisheries by-catch).

There is one more step — a no-brainer — which could be taken immediately and would benefit humpback dolphins and many other species: the removal of shark protection nets at beaches in Queensland and NSW. The rationale behind the nets is to deliberately drown sharks (a slow and painful experience for endangered sharks), but, like fishing nets, they also take a heavy toll on unintended species. Ninety dolphins, including five humpback dolphins, were caught and killed by shark protection nets from 2004 to 2009.

Removing the nets would be good not just for marine animals, but also for beachgoers. “Shark control nets don’t create a real barrier — it’s a false sense of security,” says Kindleysides. “There’s quite a damning statistic which says that 40 per cent of sharks caught in the nets are caught on the beach side, which means that sharks can swim around them and under them”. A more effective option would be to reallocate resources spent maintaining shark nets to surf lifesaving monitoring with aerial flyovers, which can also spot much higher probability dangers for swimmers such as riptides.

Politicians appear to be wary of addressing the shark net issue, but we should seriously consider this and other conservation measures for inshore dolphins. First and foremost, we should make sure there is adequate investment in a coordinated research program to better understand the mysterious humpback dolphin. Given the threats they face are from human activities, we owe it to them to at least find out what sort of damage we’re doing. If we don’t, we may find that Australia’s pink dolphins are seriously endangered before they are even officially recognised as a species.

Sarah Lucas is CEO of Australia for Dolphins.