Bycatch and pollution are the main threats for Burmeister’s porpoises inhabiting a high-industrialized bay in the Humboldt Current System

Martínez-López, Emma

Publication:
Bycatch and pollution are the main threats for Burmeister’s porpoises inhabiting a high-industrialized bay in the Humboldt Current System

dc.contributor.author	Martínez-López, Emma
dc.contributor.department	Ciencias Sociosanitarias
dc.date.accessioned	2025-01-31T21:05:45Z
dc.date.available	2025-01-31T21:05:45Z
dc.description	© 2024 Elsevier Inc. This document is the published version of a published work that appeared in final form in Environmental Research To access the final edited and published work see: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.118621
dc.description.abstract	Pollution and bycatch are two of the main threats for cetaceans worldwide. These threats are exacerbated for nearshore species particularly for those in regions with intense industrial and fishing activities. Burmeister's porpoise is endemic to South America, has a Near Threatened conservation status because of long-term mortality in fisheries. Burmeister's porpoise occur in Mejillones Bay, northern Chile, a hot spot for heavy metals pollution from the mining industry and an intense industrial and artisanal purse-seine fishing area. From 2018 to 2021, we conducted systematic marine surveys to assess the abundance, distribution and habitat use of Burmeister's porpoises. We responded to stranding reports from 2018 to 2022, and necropsied nine individuals. From five of these, we analyzed the metal concentrations (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Hg, Se and Zn) in muscle and skin tissues. Results showed an abundance of 76.17 individuals (CV = 25.9%) and an average density of 0.45 individuals/km2 (CV = 26%). Burmeister's porpoises were observed year round, 22.2% were mother-calf pairs present in austral summer at an average of 90.6 m depth in the southwestern bound of the bay. Two-thirds of stranded specimens died due to bycatch and one died due to bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) attack. We report a dead Burmeister's porpoise positive for avian flu virus A (H5N1). Metals analyzed were found in muscle and skin tissues of stranded Burmeister's porpoises in the following order (Zn > Cu > Cr > As > Hg > Pb > Cd). Although we could not assess pollution as a cause of mortality, Cr, As and Pb concentrations exceeded the concentrations found in other porpoises species worldwide. We conclude that bycatch and pollution as the main threats for Burmeister's porpoise survival in northern Chile. Future studies should investigate the use of acoustic deterrent alarms to mitigate the bycatch in the bay and consider the Burmeister's porpoise as a sentinel species of pollution in northern Chilean coast	es
dc.format	application/pdf	es
dc.format.extent	12
dc.identifier.citation	Environmental Research Volume 251, Part 2, 15 June 2024, 118621
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.118621
dc.identifier.issn	0013-9351
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10201/149896
dc.language	eng	es
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation	This study was funded by the Porpoise Conservation Society. We warmly thank the Porpoise Conservation Society board for supporting the study and Marcus Wernicke his support with the transfer of funds from Canada. AGC is funded by ANID- FONDECYT Postdoctoral Fellow (N. 3210483)	es
dc.relation.publisherversion	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935124005255?via%3Dihub
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.subject	Phocoena spinipinnis
dc.subject	Strandings
dc.subject	Habitat use
dc.subject	Abundance
dc.subject	Toxic trace
dc.subject	Avian flu
dc.subject	Chile
dc.title	Bycatch and pollution are the main threats for Burmeister’s porpoises inhabiting a high-industrialized bay in the Humboldt Current System	es
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication	es