Genetic isolation between coastal and fishery‐impacted, offshore bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops spp.) populations

Abstract

Accepted Article Accepted ArticleThis article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Accepted Article Accepted ArticleThis article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. By including a quantitative modelling approach, our study explicitly took evolutionary processes into account for informing the conservation and management of protected species. As such, it may serve as a template for other, similarly inaccessible study populations.

Fine‐scale population structure and connectivity of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in European waters and implications for conservation

“…Allen et al, 2016;Hoelzel, Potter, & Best, 1998;Rosel, Hansen, & Hohn, 2009;Vollmer & Rosel, 2017). Allen et al, 2016;Hoelzel, Potter, & Best, 1998;Rosel, Hansen, & Hohn, 2009;Vollmer & Rosel, 2017).…”

Preliminary estimates of the abundance and fidelity of dolphins associating with a demersal trawl fishery

“…Allen et al . 29 , however, illustrated that the dolphins interacting with the PTF are a different species and genetically isolated from the coastal Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin populations and this study shows that the number of common bottlenose dolphins ( T. truncatus ) interacting with the PTF is relatively small. Determinations such as “Given the area of distribution and expected population size of these protected species, the impact of the trawl on the stocks of these protected species is probably minimal”; that up to 75 dolphin mortalities year −1 is an “acceptable” limit; and that mortalities from bycatch pose “negligible risk” to the dolphin population 32, 35, 51 have been made in the absence of fundamental data on mortality rates and abundance, and appear to be overly optimistic.…”

“…Samples should be gathered from common bottlenose dolphins in adjacent areas to assess levels of gene flow, or the degree of isolation of the fishery-impacted community 29 , and to better-define population boundaries and/or establish management or conservation units 62 .…”

“…Small tissue samples were collected, stored and analysed as described in Allen et al . 29 . The software microsatellite toolkit 77 was used to determine identical genotypes among all sampled individuals.…”

“…Common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus , ‘bottlenose dolphins’ hereafter) are well known globally 28 , but considered ‘data deficient’ around Australia, where they tend to occur in pelagic habitats, more distant from the coast and human population centres than the closely related Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins ( T. aduncus ) 22, 29 . No population estimates for T. truncatus exist in Australian waters, and our limited knowledge from north-western Australia is a result of relatively recent research due to their bycatch in the Pilbara Fish Trawl Interim Managed Fishery (‘Pilbara Trawl Fishery’, or ‘PTF’, hereafter - Fig.…”