REVIEW ON THE THREATS AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF FRANCISCANA, PONTOPORIA BLAINVILLEI (CETACEA, PONTOPORIIDAE) - Biology, Evolution and Conservation of River Dolphins Within South America and Asia - page 323

Chapter 17
R EVIEW ON THE T HREATS AND C ONSERVATION
S TATUS OF F RANCISCANA , P ONTOPORIA B LAINVILLEI
(C ETACEA , P ONTOPORIIDAE )
Eduardo R. Secchi 
Laboratório de Tartarugas e Mamiferos Marinhos, Instituto de Oceanografia (IO-FURG)
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande/FURG, Rio Grande - RS, Brazil
A BSTRACT
Franciscana's restriction to shallow coastal waters makes it highly vulnerable to
anthropogenic threats. Habitat degradation (noise pollution, chemical pollution and
overfishing) and loss affect many coastal cetacean species around the world. Nonetheless,
incidental catches in fishing gear are believed to be the main threat to franciscana
conservation. This chapter aims at providing a review about the main conservation issues
for franciscana with emphasis on bycatch in fishing gear. It also discusses the species
conservation status, the potential alternatives for minimizing incidental mortality in
fisheries and the constraints for the effective establishment and implementation of
conservation measures.
C ONSERVATION T HREATS
Habitat Degradation
Plastic pollution and ingestion of debris: Ingestion of plastic debris by cetaceans has
been a worldwide concern ( e.g. Laist, 1997). In the western South Atlantic, both coastal and
oceanic species are vulnerable to ingesting debris accidentally ( e.g. Secchi & Zarzur, 1999;
Bastida et al., 2000). Analysis of stomach contents of franciscanas have shown that this
species is also vulnerable to ingesting many kinds of debris including discarded fishing gear
 [e-mail].