Dolphins are leaving Dusky Sound. Are humans to blame?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-02-23 03:00

New Zealand

Bernard Spragg via wikimedia commons

Tourists love to dolphin-watch, but scientists have taken it to the next level by studying the bottlenose dolphins in Dusky Sound for a whole decade. They've found the area in southern Fiordland is becoming less popular for the marine mammals – raising concerns that human activity could be driving the top predators away, and in turn threatening the whole ecosystem. The researchers highlight the areas of Dusky Sound that dolphins frequent most often, and suggest ways to limit the human impact on the animals.

Media release

From:

Journal/
conference: New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Otago, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Department of Conservation

Funder: Funding and equipment was supplied by the New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust, the Department of Conservation, the Fiordland Marine Mammal Liaison Group, and postgraduate research grants from the Graduate Research Committee and the Department of Marine Science at the University of Otago.

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