Conservation Efforts for Rio's Dolphins: A Deep Dive
Release Date: 05/10/2024
What Your Farmed Salmon Ate: Inside a Five-Year Fishmeal Investigation
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More than half the seafood eaten on Earth now comes from fish farms, and most of those farmed fish are raised on fishmeal made from wild-caught fish. Maya Martin, deputy editor at The Outlaw Ocean Project, joins Andrew Lewin to unpack Food for Feed, a five-year investigation that traced fishmeal from the ships that catch it, through the plants that grind it, to the farmed fish on your plate. Maya explains how forage fish like sardinella and anchoveta are pulled from waters off West Africa, Peru and Southeast Asia, often from stocks that are already overexploited and from communities that...
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Picture a big sign over the seafood counter promising sustainable fishing, with a fish every independent guide says to avoid sitting on ice right below it. In most countries nobody broke a rule, because the word "sustainable" on seafood has no legal definition. In this final episode of our sustainable seafood week, Andrew Lewin walks you through how to see past that sign and choose seafood you can feel good about. You'll learn how to use the eco-labels and seafood guides that have already done the research for you, including the Marine Stewardship Council's blue tick for wild seafood, the...
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Is Bottom Trawling Always Bad? It Depends Where
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Off the south coast of England, about 100 kilometres out, sits Haig Fras, a granite reef covered in jewel anemones and cup corals. For years it was protected on paper, yet heavy fishing gear could still drag across it. In March 2024, that finally changed. In this episode, Andrew Lewin explains why where we fish matters as much as how much we fish, and what it takes to turn a line on a map into real protection. Andrew breaks down the difference between midwater and bottom trawls and puts the damage shown in the recent Ocean documentary into context. Bottom trawling lands about a quarter of the...
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The Trapdoor That Saves Sea Turtles From Shrimp Nets
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A Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle on Earth, gets swept into a shrimp trawl. It hits a metal grid, slides out through a flap in the net, and swims away. That small trapdoor, the turtle excluder device, is one of the biggest success stories in fisheries management, and in late August 2026 a US federal appeals court upheld the rule extending it to skimmer trawl boats 40 feet and longer. In this episode, marine biologist Andrew Lewin walks through the bycatch fixes that are working and the fights still underway. You’ll hear why North Atlantic right whales get tangled...
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The Cod Came Back: What a Fishery Collapse Teaches Us About Overfishing
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Five centuries ago, explorers off Newfoundland described cod so plentiful that a weighted basket lowered into the sea came back full. By July 2, 1992, so few remained that Canada shut the northern cod fishery overnight. About 30,000 people lost their work in what became the largest single layoff in Canadian history. In this first episode of a week-long sustainable seafood series, Andrew tells the story of how the collapse happened and how slowly the cod came back. Andrew then breaks down the words that cause the most confusion in fisheries headlines: overfishing, overfished, depleted, and...
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How to Choose Sustainable Seafood
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You want to eat seafood the right way. Then you hit the seafood counter and face a wall of labels, a sign promising “sustainable practices,” and an employee who has no idea where the tuna came from. Add documentaries like Seaspiracy telling you to quit fish entirely, and it’s tempting to give up and buy whatever looks good. Unsustainable fishing is the biggest threat to marine biodiversity, so those choices carry real weight. In this episode, Andrew’s good friend Dr. David Shiffman joins the show to talk about his new book, Why Sustainable Seafood Matters. David spent two years on the...
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Slow Down for Whales: How Global Shipping Learned to Share the Ocean
How To Protect The Ocean
Blue whales can’t dodge ships. When scientists tracked blue whales alongside cargo ships off Southern California, the whales responded in just over half the encounters, and every response was the same: a slow, shallow dive. Not once did a whale move sideways out of the ship’s path. Models suggest ships kill around 18 blue whales a year off the U.S. West Coast, nearly eight times what the population can lose and still recover. The good news is in the data. Most blue whale strike deaths happen in a small slice of ocean, and that’s where ports, air quality agencies, marine sanctuaries, and...
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When Whale Food Moves: Climate Change, Crab Traps, and Pop-Up Gear
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In 2014, a patch of unusually warm water nicknamed "the blob" settled off the west coast of North America. The cold, food-rich water that normally stretches far offshore shrank into a narrow strip along the coast, and hungry humpback whales followed their food straight into the waters where Dungeness crabbers had set thousands of traps, each tied to a vertical rope. Entanglements jumped from about 10 a year to 53 in 2015 and 55 in 2016. In this episode, Andrew traces the line from warmer water to a specific whale in a specific rope. You'll learn why lunge-feeding whales depend on dense patches...
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The Whale Heart That Beats Twice a Minute
How To Protect The Ocean
Fill your hands with cold water, hold your breath, and press your face in. Your heart slows within seconds. That reflex lives in every whale in the ocean too, and in a blue whale it is pushed so far that the largest heart on Earth can drop to two beats a minute on a deep dive. In this episode, Andrew walks through the first heart rate recording from a wild blue whale, led by Jeremy Goldbogen's team at Stanford, and a study by Terrie Williams of UC Santa Cruz that tracked narwhals fleeing after release from nets in East Greenland. The narwhals swam as hard as they could while their hearts fell...
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The Biggest Mouthful: How Blue Whales Eat and Why Krill Matters
How To Protect The Ocean
A blue whale can swallow a volume of water bigger than its own body in a single gulp. That move, called lunge feeding, is one of the most extreme feats in the animal kingdom, and it only pays off when krill is packed into thick, dense swarms. In a thin patch, a blue whale gets back about six times the energy it spent. In a dense swarm, it gets back more than 200 times. In this first episode of the Age of Giants series, Andrew breaks down how rorqual whales feed, then follows the krill. In 2025, the Antarctic krill fishery hit its 620,000 tonne precautionary limit for the first time and closed...
info_outlineAndrew Lewin discusses a conservation project in Rio de Janeiro aimed at saving the Rio's dolphin from extinction. Highlighting the threats of chemical and oil pollution, dredging, noise, overfishing, and bycatch in three different bays, including Guanabara Bay, Sepetiba Bay, and Ilha Grande Bay, the episode explores the efforts to protect these dolphins in Brazilian waters.
Link to article: https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/education-research-bring-rios-dolphins-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction/
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Conservation efforts are crucial to protect the Rio's dolphins, also known as Guyana's dolphins, from extinction in three different bays off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. These dolphins are residential, meaning they do not leave the bays despite facing various threats such as chemical pollution, oil pollution, dredging, noise pollution, and overfishing. The health of the ocean ecosystem within these bays is vital for the survival of these dolphins.
The Guyana's Dolphin Institute, led by biologist Leonardo Flack, has been studying the dolphins in Septiba Bay since the 1990s to understand the challenges they face and find solutions to protect them. The dolphins in these bays are reproducing, but the survivability of their calves is low, leading to high mortality rates. The dolphins are also facing issues such as infectious diseases due to pollution and other factors.
Conservation efforts include monitoring the dolphin populations, studying their tissues for contamination levels, and implementing measures to reduce threats like noise pollution, chemical pollution, and overfishing. Marine protected areas have been established in some bays to restrict harmful activities and protect the dolphins. Additionally, efforts are being made to engage with the fishing community and promote ecotourism as a sustainable alternative to fishing.
The challenges faced in conserving these dolphins highlight the need for marine spatial planning, collaboration with various stakeholders, and long-term monitoring and research efforts. By addressing the threats and implementing conservation measures, there is hope to bring the Rio's dolphins back from the brink of extinction and ensure their role as apex predators and iconic species in the region.
The dolphins in Rio de Janeiro, specifically the Guyana's dolphins or Rio's dolphins, are facing a multitude of threats that are putting their survival at risk. These threats include chemical pollution, sewage contamination, noise pollution from ships, overfishing, and habitat degradation.
Chemical Pollution and Sewage Contamination: The bays where these dolphins reside, such as Guanabara Bay, are heavily impacted by chemical pollution and sewage contamination. Up to 80% of sewage from the region is untreated and pumped directly into the bay, contaminating the water with pathogens and pharmaceuticals. This pollution has led to a compromised immune system in the dolphins, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases.
Noise Pollution from Ships: The presence of a large number of ships in the bays results in significant noise pollution. The noise interferes with the dolphins' communication, which is crucial for their hunting, communication within the pod, and protection of calves. The disruption in communication due to noise pollution can lead to the exclusion of certain pod members, including calves, which can have detrimental effects on the population.
Overfishing: The expansion of urban areas and industrial activities has pushed fishers into areas where the dolphins frequent. As a result, dolphins are getting caught in fishing nets, leading to accidental bycatch. Overfishing not only impacts the dolphins' food source but also poses a direct threat to the dolphins themselves.
Habitat Degradation: The bays where the dolphins reside have experienced habitat degradation due to urban expansion, sedimentation, and contamination. For example, Guanabara Bay has seen a drastic decline in the dolphin population, with only 30 individuals remaining out of the 400 that were present in the 1980s. The degradation of their habitat has likely contributed to the decline in reproductive success and overall health of the dolphins.
In conclusion, the combination of these threats poses a significant challenge to the survival of the Guyana's dolphins in Rio de Janeiro. Conservation efforts must address these issues comprehensively, including implementing measures to reduce pollution, regulate noise levels from ships, manage fishing activities sustainably, and protect critical habitats. By addressing these threats, there is hope that the dolphin populations can recover and thrive in their natural environment.
Collaborative efforts involving researchers, conservationists, and local communities are crucial in implementing solutions to protect the dolphins and their habitats. In the podcast episode, it was highlighted how the Guyana's dolphins, also known as Rio's dolphins, are facing numerous threats in the bays off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. These threats include chemical pollution, sewage contamination, noise pollution from ships, overfishing, and habitat degradation.
Researchers like Leonardo Flack from the Guyana's Dolphin Institute have been studying these dolphins for decades, understanding the dangers they face and working on solutions to protect them. Through collaborative efforts with other researchers, conservationists, and local communities, they have been able to monitor the dolphin populations, study their health, and identify the key threats they are facing.
One example of successful collaboration mentioned in the episode is the establishment of a marine protected area in Septiba Bay. This protected area prohibits the use of chemicals and fishing, allowing the dolphin population in that specific area to thrive. This initiative shows how working together with local communities and implementing conservation measures can have a positive impact on the marine environment and the species within it.
Furthermore, the episode highlighted the importance of engaging with local fishers to promote sustainable practices and alternative livelihoods, such as ecotourism. By involving the fishing community in conservation efforts and providing them with opportunities to support their families in a sustainable way, it not only benefits the dolphins but also the local economy and ecosystem.
Overall, the collaborative efforts between researchers, conservationists, and local communities play a vital role in protecting the dolphins and their habitats. By working together, sharing knowledge, and implementing solutions, it is possible to ensure the survival and well-being of these iconic marine species.