A review of the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the critically endangered eastern Taiwan Strait Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis)

Small cetaceans are increasingly being recognized as high risk groups subject to multiple human threats that can act synergistically on vulnerable populations. The eastern Taiwan Strait (ETS) population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis, is dependent on the estuarine systems of Taiwan’s west coast, and so has habitat that overlaps greatly with human activities. With fewer than 100 individuals, the population has a Critically Endangered status on the IUCN Red List. Threats to the population include habitat loss, noise and disturbance, fisheries interactions, chemical pollution, and reduced freshwater outflow to estuarine ecosystems. Evaluating each threat separately underestimates synergistic effects among them, and if the population is to remain viable in the long-term, most of these threats will require mitigation. We emphasize that the immediate protection of priority habitat, which has already been described in detail for this population, offers perhaps the best strategy for legally binding broad-scale threat reduction. Continuing research on this population highlights both its dire status and ecological uniqueness. If the ETS humpback dolphins are successfully conserved, their case may become a practical and inspirational model for the protection of many other vulnerable marine organisms. [JMATE. 2011;4(2):3-9]