Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T11:49:07.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Occurrence of Atlantic humpback (Sousa teuszii) and bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) dolphins in the coastal waters of Guinea-Bissau, with an updated cetacean species checklist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2015

Ruth H. Leeney ,
Caroline R. Weir ,
Pierre Campredon ,
Aissa Regalla  and
Jeff Foster
Ruth H. Leeney*
Affiliation:
Benguela Research & Training, P.O. Box 786, Walvis Bay, Namibia
Caroline R. Weir
Affiliation:
Ketos Ecology, 4 Compton Road, Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7 2BP, UK
Pierre Campredon
Affiliation:
IUCN, IBAP – Avenida Dom Settimio Arturo Ferrazzetta, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Aissa Regalla
Affiliation:
IUCN, IBAP – Avenida Dom Settimio Arturo Ferrazzetta, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Jeff Foster
Affiliation:
3220 106th Street SE, Bellevue WA, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to:R.H. Leeney, Benguela Research & Training, P.O. Box 786, Walvis Bay, Namibia email: ruth.leeney@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is a paucity of information on the cetacean fauna of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. We compiled records published in the literature and novel unpublished sighting data (2008–2014) to examine the occurrence and distribution of cetacean species. At least 10 species were verified to occur in Guinea-Bissau waters, of which eight were documented from a small number of sightings, whaling captures or skeletal remains. By far the most frequently recorded species were the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) (N = 146) and the Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) (N = 110). These two species were sympatric in distribution, both being found throughout coastal waters from the northern regions of Canal de Jeta and Rio Mansôa south to the Rio Cacine and around the Arquipélago dos Bijagós. However, differences were apparent in their finer-scale distribution and in the distance of sightings from shore, with bottlenose dolphin sightings generally occurring further from shore (and especially in the region of the Canal do Gêba) than Atlantic humpback dolphins. Sightings indicate that both species likely inhabit Guinea-Bissau waters throughout the year. Dedicated systematic cetacean survey work is urgently needed in coastal Bissau-Guinean waters in order to ascertain the abundance, spatio-temporal distribution, population structure and causes of mortality of bottlenose and Atlantic humpback dolphins, particularly given the Vulnerable conservation status of the latter species. Clarification of the status of cetaceans in offshore waters requires survey effort throughout the Guinea-Bissau EEZ.

Keywords

Arquipélago dos Bijagósdistributiongroup sizesperm whalepilot whalekiller whaleRisso's dolphinClymene dolphinbycatch
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 4: Marine Mammals , June 2016 , pp. 933 - 941
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Almeida e Silva, M., Araujo, A., Djedjo, F., Gomes, L. and Monteiro, H. (1999) Plano nacional de conservaçao do Manatim africano (Trichechus senegalensis) na Guiné Bissau. Bissau: UICN-Instituto para a Conservaçao da Natureza.Google Scholar
Anonymous (2009) Avistamiento de una yubarta o ballena jorobada, Megaptera novaeangliae, en las inmediaciones del Parque Nacional de Orango. El Meteoro de Orango (Boletin Informativo del Proyecto de Ecoturismo del Parque Nacional de Orango) No. 3: 3 (unpaginated). Available at: http://parquenacionaldeorango.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/boletin-informativo-del-proyecto-de.html.Google Scholar
Binet, T., Failler, P. and Thorpe, A. (2012) Migration of Senegalese fishers: a case for regional approach to management. Maritime Studies 11, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, S.G. (1959) Whales observed in the Atlantic Ocean. Notes on their distribution. Norsk Hvalfangst-Tidende 48, 289–308.Google Scholar
Campredon, P. and Cuq, F. (2001) Artisanal fishing and coastal conservation in West Africa. Journal of Coastal Conservation 7, 91–100.Google Scholar
Cross, H.C. (2014) The importance of small-scale fishing to rural coastal livelihoods: a comparative case-study in the Bijagós Archipelago, Guinea Bissau. PhD thesis. Department of Anthropology, University College London & Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London.Google Scholar
Fulling, G.L., Foster, J., Fertl, D.C. and Fagin, T. (2008) Pilot survey of coastal small cetaceans in the waters of Guinea-Bissau. Unpublished report to Truk Bissau, November 2008. http://www.ziphiusecoservices.com/pdfs/misc/coastal-cetaceans.pdf.Google Scholar
Hardman-Mountford, N.J. and McGlade, J.M. (2003) Seasonal and interannual variability of oceanographic processes in the Gulf of Guinea: an investigation using AVHRR sea surface temperature data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 24, 3247–3268.Google Scholar
Hazevoet, C.J., Gravanita, B., López Suárez, P. and Wenzel, F.W. (2011) Seasonality of humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781) records in Cape Verde seas: evidence for the occurrence of stocks from both hemispheres? Zoologia Caboverdiana 2, 25–29.Google Scholar
Leeney, R.H., Dia, I.M. and Dia, M. (2015) Food, pharmacy, friend? Bycatch, direct take and consumption of dolphins in West Africa. Human Ecology 43, 105–118.Google Scholar
Leeney, R.H. and Poncelet, P. (2013) Using fishers’ ecological knowledge to assess the status and cultural importance of sawfish in Guinea-Bissau. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. Published online.Google Scholar
Maigret, J. (1994) Marine mammals and fisheries along the West African coast. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 15, 307–316.Google Scholar
Reeves, R.R. and Mitchell, E. (1988) Killer whale sightings and takes by American pelagic whalers in the North Atlantic. Rit Fiskideildar 11, 7–23.Google Scholar
Reiner, F. (1980) First record of an Antillean beaked whale, Mesoplodon europaeus Gervais 1855, from Républica Popular da Guiné-Bissau. Memórias do Museu do Mar, Cascais, Portugal. Série Zoológia 1, 1–8.Google Scholar
Sea Around Us Project (2014) Guinea-Bissau. http://www.seaaroundus.org/eez/624.aspx. Sea Around Us Project, University of British Columbia, Canada.Google Scholar
Sequeira, M. and Reiner, F. (1992) First record of an Atlantic humpback dolphin, Sousa teuszii Kukenthal, 1892 (Cetacea, Delphinidae) in Guinea-Bissau. Mammalia 56, 311–313.Google Scholar
Spaans, B. (1990). Dolphins in the coastal area of Guiné Bissau. Lutra 33, 126–131.Google Scholar
Spalding, M.D., Fox, H.E., Allen, G.R., Davidson, N., Fernaña, Z.A., Finlayson, M., Halperin, B.S., Jorge, M.A., Lombana, A., Lourie, S.A., Martin, K.D., McManus, E., Molnar, J., Recchia, C.A. and Robertson, J. (2007) Marine ecoregions of the world: a bioregionalization of coastal and shelf areas. Bioscience 57, 573–583.Google Scholar
Tous, P., dos Santos, A. and Incom, I. (1997) Mission d'observation d'une baleine échouée sur la Côte nord-ouest de la Guinée Bissau. IUCN Guinée Bissau, Unpublished Report, 10 pp.Google Scholar
Townsend, C.H. (1935). The distribution of certain whales as shown by logbook records of American whaleships. Zoologica 19, 1–50 + 6 maps.Google Scholar
van Bree, P.J.H. and Cadenat, J. (1968) On a skull of Peponocephala electra (Gray, 1846) (Cetacea, Globicephalinae) from Sénégal. Beaufortia 14, 193–202.Google Scholar
van Bree, P.J.H. and Duguy, R. (1977) Catalogue de la collection des mammifères marins du Muséum de Bordeaux. Annales de la Societé des Sciences Naturelles de la Charente-Maritime 6, 289–307.Google Scholar
Van Waerebeek, K., Bamy, I.L., Jiddou, A.M., Sequeira, M., Diop, M., Ofori-Danson, P.K., Tchibozo, S. and Campredon, P. (2008) Indeterminate status of West African populations of inshore common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus cautions against opportunistic live-capture schemes. Report to the Fondation Internationale du Banc d'Arguin, 9 pp.Google Scholar
Van Waerebeek, K., Barnett, L., Camara, A., Cham, A., Diallo, M., Djiba, A., Jallow, A.O., Ndiaye, E., Samba Ould Bilal, A.O. and Bamy, I.L. (2004) Distribution, status, and biology of the Atlantic humpback dolphin, Sousa teuszii (Kükenthal, 1892). Aquatic Mammals 30, 56–83.Google Scholar
Van Waerebeek, K., Ndiaye, E., Djiba, A., Diallo, M., Murphy, P., Jallow, A., Camara, A., Ndiaye, P. and Tous, P. (2000) A survey of the conservation status of cetaceans in Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Bonn, Germany: UNEP/CMS Secretariat, 80 pp.Google Scholar
Weir, C.R. (2010) A review of cetacean occurrence in West African waters from the Gulf of Guinea to Angola. Mammal Review 40, 2–39.Google Scholar
Weir, C.R. (2011) Distribution and seasonality of cetaceans in tropical waters between Angola and the Gulf of Guinea. African Journal of Marine Science 33, 1–15.Google Scholar
Weir, C.R., Coles, P., Ferguson, A., May, D., Baines, M., Figueirdo, I., Reichelt, M., Goncalves, L., de Boer, M.N., Rose, B., Edwards, M., Travers, S., Ambler, M., Félix, H., Wall, D., Azhakesan, V.A.A., Betenbaugh, M., Fennelly, L., Haaland, S., Hak, G., Juul, T., Leslie, R.W., McNamara, B., Russell, N., Smith, J.A., Tabisola, H.M., Teixeira, A., Vermeulen, E., Vines, J.Williams, A. (2014) Clymene dolphins (Stenella clymene) in the eastern tropical Atlantic: distribution, group size, and pigmentation pattern. Journal of Mammalogy 95, 1289–1298.Google Scholar
Weir, C.R., Van Waerebeek, K., Jefferson, T.A. and Collins, T. (2011) West Africa's Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii): endemic, enigmatic and soon Endangered? African Zoology 46, 1–17.Google Scholar
Wells, R.S. and Scott, M.D. (1999) Bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). In Ridgway, S.H. and Harrison, R. (eds) Handbook of marine mammals, Vol. 6, the second book of dolphins and the porpoises. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 137–182.Google Scholar
Wolff, W.J. (ed.) (1998) The end of the east-Atlantic flyway. Waders in Guinea-Bissau. Report on a cooperative research project in the estuaries of Guinea-Bissau, October 1992–May 1993. WIWO Report No. 39. Zeist, Utrecht: Foundation Working Group for International Waterbird and Wetland Research, 94 pp.Google Scholar