Hectors_Dolphin Threats

Threats

The bottlenose dolphin is found around the world. The species is relatively secure and not in imminent danger of extinction. However, it, and all other marine mammals, faces anthropogenic threats to its health and survival.
The greatest threat is undoubtedly habitat degradation, a worldwide phenomenon affecting a plethora of marine species. 






As growing numbers of people move to coastal areas, housing development and commerce cause increased pollution, sewage outflow, and sedimentation in marine waters. All of these factors threaten fragile coastal ecosystems and the marine organisms living in them, including the bottlenose dolphin.

Recreational boaters sometimes injure dolphins and engine noise can disrupt foraging and communication. Photo courtesy of SDRP.

There are more subtle threats as well. Scientists think that boat traffic and other forms of acoustic disturbance confuse communication within bottlenose dolphin groups. Marine debris from trash thrown into the oceans, if swallowed, can lethally clog a dolphin’s digestive tract. Dolphins drown by becoming entangled in fishing gear abandoned or lost by fishermen. In some parts of the world, fishermen kill dolphins for food or because they are perceived as threats to their livelihoods. Despite the best of intentions, tourists may also have a negative affect on wild bottlenose dolphins by approaching groups too closely and disturbing resting or foraging animals.


But it’s not all doom and gloom: You can do a lot to help protect bottlenose dolphins and other marine species.

• Get involved by volunteering with a research or conservation group in a coastal area or a dolphinarium.
• Organize local beach clean-ups and practice green behavior such as picking up your trash at the end of a day at the beach.
• Do not harass local wildlife: Watch from a distance and let animals behave naturally.
• Teach others how they can help protect their favorite marine mammal, even if you don’t live near the ocean.

By working together, we can make a difference to vulnerable marine species in need of help.