Biology of the phocoenids a collection of papers
Includes bibliographies
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| Format: | UnknownFormat |
| Sprache: | eng |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Cambridge
International Whaling Commission
1995
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| Schriftenreihe: | Report of the International Whaling Commission
Special issue 16 |
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Tag hinzufügen | Zusammenfassung: | Includes bibliographies This volume is dedicated to the family Phocoenidae. The Phocoenids are subject to harvest by coastal communities in many areas and are particularly vulnerable to incidental mortality in coastal fishing operations. In addition, human activities impose indirect threats particularly to the coastal porpoises through the detrimental impact on their environment. This includes habitat degradation from pollution, disturbance by ship traffic and boats, noise, physical changes to the habitat and depletion of important prey species by overfishing. Although the offshore porpoises may face less environmental threats, they have suffered large scale incidental mortality in fishing gear. The Dall's porpoise has recently been subject to directed fisheries and harvested at unsustainable levels in some areas. The IWC Scientific Committee has reviewed the biology and status of the porpoises and monitored the threats to these small cetaceans. Recommendations for management and research are made as appropriate by the Committee and its sub-committee on small cetaceans and these are discussed in the introductory remarks for each of the species sections. Many of the papers published in this book have been prepared in response to these recommendations. Inevitably, perhaps, the majority of papers concern the best studied of the Phocoenid populations, the harbour porpoises in the North Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific. Much of the impetus for these studies has come from the identification of potentially serious levels of incidental fishery mortality in developed nations in Europe and North America. There are papers covering a wide range of topics ranging from abundance estimation through to pollution and energetics. One species which has attracted widespread interest and concern within the Scientific Committee in recent years is the vaquita. This species has the smallest range of any marine cetacean and numbering only a few hundred is seriously threatened with extinction. The papers in this volume review the limited available biological information and consider the problems of continuing incidental captures despite many attempts at giving complete protection. The section on Dall's porpoises is relatively short as much of the work on this species has been carried out in connection with the Japanese salmon driftnet fishery. Much of the information on these porpoises has been published in the IWC Annual Reports, Special Issue 15 and in a series of papers published by the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission. It is particularly edifying to be able to include a number of papers addressing the relatively little studied Burmeister's and spectacled porpoises. This reflects the major increase in studies in South American waters, particularly in response to concerns about their status as a result of both direct and indirect captures. Sadly, despite evidence of direct and indirect captures around the world, there are no papers on the finless porpoise in this volume, reflecting the absence of research on this species in all but a few areas. A brief summary of the species is included. The final section of the book includes the report of a workshop held on the age determination of harbour porpoises. Although not an IWC workshop, the report has been presented to the IWC Scientific Committee and it is included here as the results are of importance to studies of many aspects of Phocoenid biology. |
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| Beschreibung: | X, 552 S Ill., graph. Darst., Kt 24 cm |
| ISBN: | 0906975298 0-906975-29-8 |