Conflicts between river dolphins (Cetacea: Odontoceti) and fisheries in the Central Amazon: a path toward tragedy?

Alves, Luiz Cláudio Pinto de Sá; Zappes, Camilah Antunes; Andriolo, Artur

doi:10.1590/s1984-46702012000500005

Cited by 38 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…Similar harmful behaviours targeting protected marine mammal species are also known to occur in other geographic regions (e.g. Alves, Zappes, & Andriolo, ; Leeney et al, ; Loch, Marmontel, & Simoes‐Lopes, ; Mintzer, Diniz, & Frazer, ; Robards & Reeves, ), with negative fishery interactions being the main threats for some threatened populations (Turvey et al, ; Zappes, da Silva, et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…First, harmful behaviours such as the consumption of marine mammal meat, which were documented at relatively high levels in local fishing communities (Figure a, b), require strict management and increased enforcement (Liu et al, ), especially in southern and western Hainan (Figure c, d). Second, environmental and regulatory education should be improved to raise awareness and enthusiasm in local communities about marine mammal conservation, and to reduce the support and demand for selling and eating marine mammal meat (Figure d; Alves et al, ; Manzan & Lopes, ; Pont et al, ). Third, because reported income from fishing was generally low among respondents (Figure S1), and low fishing income was associated with an increased likelihood of having sold marine mammal meat (Figure e), it is suggested that more sustainable sources of income could be assessed as a potential replacement for fishing activities in low‐income communities (Bashir et al, ; Bearzi et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fishers' experiences and perceptions of marine mammals in the South China Sea: Insights for improving community‐based conservation

Liu

Lin

Turvey

et al. 2019

Aquatic Conserv: Mar Freshw Ecosyst

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1. The successful conservation of marine mammals is often dependent upon support from local fishing communities, and valuable conservation insights can be obtained through understanding fishers' attitudes and awareness of marine mammals. A new local ecological knowledge dataset was obtained through large-scalequestionnaire-based interviews with 510 artisanal fishers from 16 coastal fishing communities around Hainan, China. Almost all respondents (92.7%) reported regular encounters with marine mammals. Many respondents reported negative interactions with marine mammals, including bycatch (25.5%), consumption (36.1%), and the sale of meat (9.2%), and respondent perceptions of marine mammals were often negative.3. Generalized linear models (GLMs) indicated that respondent experiences of marine mammal encounters and bycatch events were mainly predicted by indices of fishing effort and experience, rather than by geographic or socio-economic factors.Respondent experiences of eating or selling marine mammal meat were predicted by geographic location and by some livelihood and socio-economic factors.Respondent perceptions of marine mammals were instead predicted by fishing experience and education level. 4. Classification and regression trees (CARTs) showed that the most important factors determining respondent experiences and perceptions were number of fishing years and educational level, respectively. Both GLMs and CARTs indicated the complex effects of geographic, livelihood, and socio-economic factors on respondent experiences and perceptions of marine mammals. 5. Regional community-based conservation of marine mammals could be promoted through improved regulatory management and environmental education, sustainable ecological exploitation and economic development, and positive partnerships and collaboration between fishing communities, enforcement agencies, and researchers. ‡ These two authors contributed equally to this work.

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“…Deliberate killing for use as bait is the primary threat affecting botos. Boto carcasses are being used to attract the catfish commonly known as piracatinga in Brazil and mota in Colombia (Calophysus macropterus) (G omez et al 2008;Loch et al 2009;Portocarrero Aya et al 2010a;Trujillo et al 2010a, b;Brum 2011;da Silva et al 2011;Alves et al 2012;G omez-Salaz ar et al 2012a;Mintzer et al 2013;Iriarte and Marmontel 2013a, b;Brum et al 2015). Demand for mota has increased in Colombia in the last decade because it is acting as a replacement for another catfish known as capaz (Pimelodus grosskopfii) that has been overfished (Petrere et al 2004, G omez et al 2008, Trujillo et al 2010b.…”

Section: Implications For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal movements of river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) in a protected Amazonian floodplain

et al. 2016

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Deliberate killing for use as bait in a regional catfish (Calophysus macropterus) fishery is the primary threat affecting the survival of the Amazon river dolphin, or boto (Inia geoffrensis). Establishing and improving freshwater protected areas has been suggested as a possible course of action to protect the species. However, the ecology of the boto is poorly understood and more information is needed on the species’ habitat use and movement patterns to ensure that spatial protection initiatives meet conservation needs. In this study, mark‐recapture/resight data collected in and near the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve, a várzea in the Brazilian Amazon, was used to examine transition probabilities of botos between various habitat types. Our findings suggest that it is imperative that spatial protection initiatives focused on the boto take into account the importance of várzea habitat and bay systems for individuals in early life stages. Moreover, because botos frequently occupy the main rivers, particularly during the low water period, protecting areas of the main river waters adjacent to várzeas could aid in the protection of hunted populations.

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“…Although piracatinga fishery in the upper Solimões River began possibly as early as the mid‐1990s, the first record of this fishery in Brazil was in 2000, when researchers became concerned about the impact on dolphin and caiman populations and called attention to the potential ecological problems (Da Silveira and Viana, ; Da Silva et al., ; Alves et al., ; Iriarte and Marmontel, , ; Mintzer et al., ). By 2007, piracatinga yields in Brazil were around 1 600 000 kg, ranking 29 th among the Amazon's largest commercial fisheries (Barthem and Goulding, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of dolphins and caimans as bait forCalophysus macropterus(Lichtenstein, 1819) (Siluriforme: Pimelodidae) in the Amazon

Brum¹,

Silva

Rossoni³

et al. 2015

J. Appl. Ichthyol.

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Summary A new fishery has been developing in the Amazon that uses dolphin and caiman species as bait to catch piracatinga (Calophysus macropterus), having thus the potential to cause adverse food‐web impacts; however a lack of basic understanding of this fishery is a limitation to the necessary management action. Interviews with fishers and analyses of fishing records in Brazil were used for the study, including harvest methods, types of baits used, commercialization chains, and the rate of increase of piracatinga yields in recent years. Piracatinga fishers are subsistence fishers who harvest piracatinga as a means to alleviate economic constraints when the catch of other species is not profitable or banned due to (reproductive) closed seasons. Harvesting is done with wooden and nylon crates and cages in which whole or pieces of caimans and dolphins are placed to attract the piracatinga, entrapping them. The piracatinga are then sold to intermediate sellers for resale to a few large fish freezing and processing plants for export to Colombia. Annual piracatinga yields in the study area increased at an average rate of 446.5% per year, from 865 kg in 2003 to 23 176 kg in 2009. Because dolphins and caimans comprise various endangered species, the Brazilian government has recently implemented a ban on this fishery, which can be enforced at fish freezing and processing plants. However, there is a danger that such enforcement will lead to the development of a geographically dispersed chain of commercialization and export, such as currently exists for other species including caimans, which would be impossible to control.

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“…Aside from their forensic importance, Piracatinga are caught in large quantities to supply the market of some Latin American countries where they are considered a delicacy. To catch Piracatinga, fishermen use dolphin flesh ( Inia geoffrensis and Sotalia fluviatilis ) as bait, causing an ecological imbalance of the fauna in their habitat , and threatening the two dolphin species with extinction.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic Use of the Piracatinga Fish (Callophysius macropterus) to Locate and Identify Human Remains Retrieved From the Amazon River

Simoes

2017

J Forensic Sci

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Piracatinga (Callophysius macropterus) are a type of bottom feeder catfish encountered in the Amazon River and its tributaries. We report two cases in which human remains were first located based on a characteristic circular distortion of the surface of the river that the Piracatinga make while they feed. Human skin samples of one of the victims recovered from the Piracatinga digestive tract were subjected to mitochondrial DNA analysis that allowed identification of the body of Case 1; the family recognized body parts of Case 2. Importantly, the location of human body parts and their identification based on DNA analysis enabled the respective families to obtain a death certificate expeditiously in the absence of identifiable remains-a process that normally requires 5 years under current Brazilian law, and in the absence of closure, imposes severe emotional stress on the family of the deceased.

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Conflicts between river dolphins (Cetacea: Odontoceti) and fisheries in the Central Amazon: a path toward tragedy?

Cited by 38 publications

References 15 publications

Fishers' experiences and perceptions of marine mammals in the South China Sea: Insights for improving community‐based conservation

Seasonal movements of river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) in a protected Amazonian floodplain

Use of dolphins and caimans as bait forCalophysus macropterus(Lichtenstein, 1819) (Siluriforme: Pimelodidae) in the Amazon

Forensic Use of the Piracatinga Fish (Callophysius macropterus) to Locate and Identify Human Remains Retrieved From the Amazon River

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