SINGLE SPECIES ACTION PLAN FOR THE ATLANTIC HUMPBACK DOLPHIN (Sousa teuszii)

The cold upwelling of the Benguela oceanographic system is believed to provide the habitat barrier that prevents exchange across the distribution gap between Sousa plumbea populations in South Africa and Sousa teuszii populations in the southernmost part of the species’ range in Angola (Jefferson and Van Waerebeek 2004, Mendez et al. [...] teuszii throughout its range (Weir et al., 2021), which is concerning, as it is believed to be the driving force behind the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin (Turvey et al., 2007) and the near-extinction of the Vaquita in the Gulf of California (Brownell Jr et al., 2019; Gulland et al., 2020). [...] the Bank D’Arguin National Park in Mauritania, the Delta Saloum National Park, Sangomar Marine Protected Area and four adjacent marine protected areas in Senegal, various MPAs in Gabon, and Conkouati-Douli National Park in Republic of the Congo), the limited current network of MPAs in the region is unlikely to provide adequate protection to the species. [...] The lack of quantitative data on the environmental factors that comprise optimal habitats for the species, together with the lack of a cohesive inventory of the current and planned human activities that can impact these habitats, are preventing a robust assessment of risks to the species and the measures required to mitigate these risks. [...] Final negotiation and signing of the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia, including a Small Cetacean Action Plan adopted in Annex II of the MoU 2008 S.