Five nation, 13 River Dolphin Census to Help Conservation on Two Continents

A milestone in the protection of the world's engangered river dolphins has been achieved with the successful completion of an ambitious 13 river, five nation census survey of South America's river dolphins.

The census, which took two years and recorded 3188 pink and gray dolphins in 3.600 km of rivers in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, was key to development of a standard methodology for assessing river dolphin populations and the threats they face.

“This census gives us a baseline population for these species and gives us an insight into the state of the ecosystems they inhabit,” said Fernando Trujillo PhD, the project's scientific leader.

Trujillo, Scientific Director of the Omacha Foundation and winner of the Whitley Award last year for his work with river dolphins, said “These results also provide the foundation for designing an evaluation and monitoring program for South American river dolphins.”

During the seven expeditions involved in the survey, training in the new methods was given to 18 professionals. The new methodology has also been certified by whale experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

“Although the situation for river dolphins in South America is not the same as for dolphins in Cambodia, for instance, both have areas where we need to raise the alarm against threats like pollution, indiscriminate hunting and the development of infrastructure megaprojects,” Trujillo said...