The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) accepted a petition filed by the Animal Welfare Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), and VIVA Vaquita on Thursday, agreeing to consider whether the cetacean qualifies for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing. According to a press release issued by the CBD, the Atlantic humpback dolphin’s population is in serious jeopardy due to several manmade threats.
The NMFS’s species webpage explains that the dolphin is endemic to the tropical and subtropical eastern Atlantic nearshore waters of western Africa, spanning Western Sahara to Angola latitudinally. Its populations are small and fragmented, the government says, ranging from the tens to low hundreds of individuals in a pod. In total, the species’ population is estimated to be less than 3,000.
The Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) as pictured in the groups’ petition.
The CBD cites gillnet fishing, whereby individuals are unintentionally caught in nets as a primary threat to the species’ survival. In addition, the environmental group says that the ceteacean’s food supply is dwindling and that the dolphin’s own meat has become increasingly popular in the African aquatic wild meat trade.
According to the CBD, swift action is crucial for the flailing species, already acknowledged as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. With this week’s “90-day finding,” the NFMS kicks off the administrative process starting with a 60-day comment period. The press release says that CBD and the other petitioners “will work to ensure the strongest possible scientific support is submitted to the agency.”
