A new study aims to show how dolphin health is an indicator of the state of our coastal waters.
A new study aims to show how dolphin health is an indicator of the state of our coastal waters.
Two species of dolphin are sometimes caught in anti-shark nets off KwaZulu-Natal: the bottlenose and humpback dolphins. This provides an opportunity to study the dolphins and determine as much as possible about them so that informed conservation decisions about the populations of these two dolphins in our coastal waters can be made.
Dr Stephanie Plön of the Grahamstown-based South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) and the Port Elizabeth Museum will be the first to study the health of these two species of dolphin in South Africa through a new research project in collaboration with The Wildlife Epidemiology section of the Research and Scientific Services Department at the National Zoological Gardens (NZG).
The team of researchers will provide training, supervision and logistical assistance for the project that will investigate the health status of the two species of dolphin: the bottlenose (Tursiops aduncus) and humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis).
This is the first study of its kind in South Africa, as no other health assessment of the dolphins has been made. Just as deaths in the Nile Crocodile population in the Oliphant’s River is an indicator of the degree of pollution, dolphins are apex predators in coastal waters and studying them will help us to evaluate the health of the marine ecosystem in the coastal waters of KZN.
Since water running into the sea may be full of pollutants, garbage, sewerage and infectious agents, the health of these dolphins is an indicator of how these contaminants may be affecting other ocean occupants and, indirectly, of any health risks for humans using the rivers running into the sea or the coastal waters for food or recreation.
Dr Morné de Wet, a veterinarian, will be doing his master’s study on the health status of the dolphins at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. De Wet will be assisted and supervised by Dr Ursula Siebert from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, in Germany who is an expert veterinary pathologist in marine mammal pathology.
