Cetacean captures, strandings and mortalities in South Australia 1881-2000, with special reference to human interactions.

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
CM Kemper ◽  
A Flaherty ◽  
SE Gibbs ◽  
M Hill ◽  
M Long ◽  
...  

This study summarizes 660 events involving captured, live-stranded and dead cetaceans in South Australia between 1881 and 2000. Emphasis is placed on records (n = 361) during 1985-2000 when an active necropsy programme was underway. Average number of events per year was 30.4 and the most common species were the short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus). Records were assigned to nine categories of circumstance/cause of death. Summarizing the total database, 60% were unknown circumstance, 22% not obviously anthropogenic, 13% unintentional human-related and 5% intentional human-related. In the data set of records for 1985-2000, 50% were unknown, 25% were not obviously anthropogenic, 20% were unintentional humanrelated and 5% were intentional killings. Non-anthropogenic circumstances included neonatal deaths, live strandings, significant diseases, shark attacks and choking. Cornynebacterium ulcerans is recorded for the first time in a cetacean. Unintentional circumstances included entanglement in fishing and aquaculture equipment (17% of necropsied carcasses from 1985-2000) and boat strikes. Intentional human-related circumstances were captures for live display and illegal killing. Five percent of the necropsied carcasses during 1985-2000 were attributed to shootings or stabbings/spearings. There is need for a formal reporting procedure for marine mammal deaths and human interaction involving injury and for steps to be taken to reduce human impacts.

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
M. Long ◽  
R.J. Reid ◽  
C.M. Kemper

Twenty Tursiops truncatus and 20 Delphinus delphis from South Australia were analysed for cadmium levels, as were some fish and squid species which form part of their diet. In the dolphins, cadmium was accumulated mainly in the kidneys (range 0-38 μg/g), with levels in many individuals exceeding 20 μg/g (wet weight). On average, levels in kidney were three-fold higher than in liver and 26-fold higher than in muscle. Cadmium concentrations related to dolphin body length, but the relationship with tooth development class was less clear. 80% of the prey fish species analysed from Spencer Gulf exceeded NH & MRC health recommendations of 0.2 μg/g (wet weight) for human consumption. Sepioteuthis australis from upper Spencer Gulf contained significantly higher cadmium levels than Ceduna samples (0.21 ± 0.01 μg/g versus 0.13 ± 0.01 μg/g, p<0.001) (wet weight). On histological examination, 32% of adult dolphin kidneys showed pathological changes, proteinuria being the most common abnormality. High levels of cadmium were found in dolphins from widely spaced locations in South Australia.


2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole E. Filby ◽  
Mike Bossley ◽  
Karen A. Stockin

Common dolphins are subject to large-scale fishing activity and tourism operations in South Australia; however, there is a paucity of data on this species. Understanding the behaviour of a population can contribute greatly to our knowledge of a species and how to manage potential population-level threats. This paper describes the behaviour of short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in Australian waters for the first time. Data were collected from 109 independent dolphin groups during boat-based surveys conducted in Gulf St Vincent, South Australia, between September 2005 and May 2008. Activity budgets were used to assess behaviour of common dolphins in relation to diel patterns, season, water depth, sea surface temperature (SST), group size and composition. Foraging (33.9%) and resting (2.8%) were the most and least frequently observed behaviours, respectively. Travelling (33.0%), socialising (20.2%) and milling (10.1%) accounted for the remainder of the activity budget. Diurnal differences were detected, with foraging (59.5%) and socialising (31.8%) groups most frequently observed from 10.00 to 11.59 hours. Behaviour did not vary seasonally or with water depth, SST, group size or composition. Behaviour varied significantly between single- and multispecies aggregations. Foraging was more frequent in multispecies aggregations, as 78.4% of all foraging behaviour observed for common dolphins occurred in the presence of other species. Multispecies aggregations were most frequently observed with flesh-footed shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes), which were present during 29.4% of common dolphin encounters. Behaviour varied significantly during aggregations with shearwaters, as 62.2% of foraging groups occurred in the presence of shearwaters. Resting, milling or socialising was rarely observed in the presence of any other species, indicating that the primary mechanism for aggregations is likely prey-related.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotfi Rabaoui ◽  
Ruben H. Roa-Ureta ◽  
Lamia Yacoubi ◽  
Yu-Jia Lin ◽  
Rommel Maneja ◽  
...  

Despite the important role of marine mammals in marine ecosystems and the imperative for their conservation, there is still a great lack of information on the diversity, distribution, and density of these animals in the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf. To fill this gap, an integrative data-collection approach including fishermen’s questionnaires, opportunistic sighting reports, and directed boat-based surveys, was undertaken between 2016 and 2020, leading to the first scientific report of marine mammal diversity, distribution, and density in the region. The results of the different approaches carried out during the study confirmed a high diversity of cetaceans on the west coast of the study area, with bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) and dugongs (Dugong dugon) as the most common species. While the two dolphin species were found to be widely distributed in both coastal and offshore waters, D. dugon appears to occur exclusively in coastal waters in the southern part of the study area, mainly in the Gulf of Salwah. The presence of both species of dolphins increased during the summer months and in the vicinity of the numerous oil and gas facilities in this region. The distribution of the observed dolphins was found mostly within a 10–20 km radius around each facility. Other cetacean species observed less frequently in the area include Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni), killer whale (Orcinus orca), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides). Regarding the density of marine mammals in the region, boat-based surveys confirmed the results of fishermen’s questionnaires and reports of opportunistic sightings, with bottlenose and humpback dolphins being the most abundant species. These results provide a baseline for policies oriented to the conservation of mammals in the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf.


2017 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Díaz-Delgado ◽  
E Sierra ◽  
AI Vela ◽  
M Arbelo ◽  
D Zucca ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 469-478
Author(s):  
Sally C. Fryar ◽  
Kevin D. Hyde ◽  
David E. A. Catcheside

AbstractA survey of driftwood and mangrove wood in South Australia revealed a high diversity of marine fungi. Across eight sites there were 43 species of marine fungi, of which 42 are new records for South Australia, 11 new records for Australia and 12 taxa currently of uncertain status likely to be new species. Sites had distinctive species compositions with the largest difference attributable to substrate type (beach driftwood vs. mangrove wood). However, even between mangrove sites, species assemblages were distinctly different with only the more common species occurring at all mangrove sites. More intensive surveys across a broader range of habitats and geographic locations should reveal significantly more species.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089443932110415
Author(s):  
Vanessa Russo ◽  
Emiliano del Gobbo

The object of this research is to exploit the algorithm of Twitter’s trending topic (TT) and identify the elements capable of guiding public opinion in the Italian panorama. The underlying hypotheses that guide the whole article, confirmed by the research results, concern the existence of (a) a limited number of elements at the base of each popular hashtag with very high viral power and (b) hashtags transversal to the themes detected by the Twitter algorithm that define specific opinion polls. Through computational techniques, it was possible to extract and process data sets from six specific hashtags highlighted by TT. In a first step through social network analysis, we analyzed the hashtag semantic network to identify the hashtags transversal to the six TTs. Subsequently, we selected for each data set the contents with high sharing power and created a “potential opinion leader” index to identify users with influencer characteristics. Finally, a cross section of social actors able to guide public opinion in the Twittersphere emerged from the intersection between potentially influential users and the viral contents.


2018 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 526-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Hernandez-Gonzalez ◽  
Camilo Saavedra ◽  
Jesús Gago ◽  
Pablo Covelo ◽  
M. Begoña Santos ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 283-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diaz-Delgado Josue ◽  
Sierra Eva ◽  
Vela Ana Isabel ◽  
Dominguez Lucas ◽  
Andrada Marisa ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document