On February 20, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced its decision to list the highly imperiled Atlantic humpback dolphin as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS’s decision came in response to a petition filed by AWI, the Center for Biological Diversity, and VIVA Vaquita.
Atlantic humpback dolphins feature distinctive humps on their backs topped by rounded fins. They inhabit the shallow coastal waters of West Africa, ranging from Western Sahara south to Angola, and feed primarily on mullet and other nearshore fish. Less than 3,000 are estimated to remain. In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature changed the Atlantic humpback dolphin’s status on its Red List of Threatened Species from “vulnerable” to “critically endangered” and declared the species at “an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.”
The species is most threatened by fishing net entanglement, but also faces impacts—including noise—from coastal development and other human activity. The market in West Africa for Atlantic humpback dolphin meat also appears to be growing. Although their habitat lies outside US jurisdiction, an ESA listing can still play a vital role in staving off extinction—prohibiting US trade in the dolphins, promoting funding for conservation within their range, increasing global awareness, and fostering international cooperation and the sharing of scientific expertise.