0 Primer Taller Regional de Evaluación del Estado de Conservación de Especies para el Mar Patagónico según criterios de la Lista Roja de UICN: MAMÍFEROS MARINOS. Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA – 2016 Fecha del informe: Enero 2019 Results of the 2016 IUCN Regional Red List Workshop for Species of the Patagonian Sea: MARINE MAMMALS. Last version of the repor: January 2019 Con el apoyo de: 1 EXPERTOS: Pablo Bordino Aquamarina - Argentina Claudio Campagna Wildlife Conservation Society, Marine Program Enrique Crespo Centro Nacional Patagónico (CONICET) - Argentina Marta Hevia Fundación Cethus - Argentina Mariano Sironi Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas - Argentina José Truda Palazzo Núcleo de Educación y Monitoreo Ambiental (NEMA) - Brasil Juan Capella Fundación Yubarta - Chile Maritza Sepúlveda Martínez CIGREN, Universidad de Valparaíso - Chile Valentina Franco-Trecu Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República - Uruguay Diana Szteren Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República - Uruguay COLABORADOR: M. Iñiguez. EXPERTOS IUCN: Beth Polidoro y Gina Ralph. REVISION Y EDICIÓN: M. Shope y V. Falabella CITA: Foro para la Conservación del Mar Patagónico y áreas de influencia, 2019. Informe del Primer Taller Regional de Evaluación del Estado de Conservación de Especies para el Mar Patagónico según criterios de la Lista Roja de UICN - 2016: Mamíferos Marinos. V. Falabella & C. Campagna (Eds). Citation: Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea, 2019. Report of the IUCN Regional Red List First Workshop for Species of the Patagonian Sea - 2016: Marine Mammals. V. Falabella & C. Campagna (Eds). DISEÑO Y ARTE: Victoria Zavattieri Wildlife Conservation Society 2 INDICE: Pontoporia blainvillei Cephalorhynchus commersonii Cephalorhynchus eutropia 24 Delphinus delphis Globicephala melas Grampus griseus 46 Lagenorhynchus australis Lagenorhynchus cruciger 58 Lagenorhynchus obscurus Lissodelphis peronii 68 Orcinus orca Tursiops truncatus 82 Phocoena dioptrica Phocoena spinipinnis 96 Eubalaena australis Lontra Lontra provocax 122 Arctocephalus australis Otaria flavescens Mirounga leonina 164 3 EN - Endangered, A3bcd (IUCN version 3.1) Assessment Rationale: Franciscanas are found only along the coast of South America, specifically in the Atlantic Ocean side (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina), inhabiting shallow coastal waters of tropical and temperate regions (Crespo 2002), and being known for entering the estuary of the La Plata River. This species is primarily threatened by entanglement in coastal and gill-net fisheries, and based on few observations, the bycatch catch rates are not thought to be sustainable. It is estimated that about 3.5 - 5.6% of this species population is caught annually in by-catch, primarily juveniles, pregnant and nursing females. The observed catch rate is more than 2% than what is recommended for all cetaceans by the IWC. Other threats include plastic ingestion and decline of habitat quality. Using a conservative estimate of 3.5% decline per year (to account for unknown birth rates) and a generation time of 9.3 years, if current by-catch rates continue (especially of juveniles and pregnant and nursing females) this species population is projected to decline by at least 60% over the next 27-30 years. For this reason, the species qualifies as Endangered under criterion A3bcd in the Patagonia Sea. Assessor(s): Bordino, P., Crespo, E., Franco-Trecu, V. & Hevia, M. Reviewer(s): Shope, M., Falabella, V. Contributor(s): Secchi, E., Rojas- -Crowe, G., Smith, B.D., Wang, J.Y. , Zhou, K., Zerbini, A.N., Slooten, E., Laidre, K., Karkzmarski, L., Dalebout, M. & Reeves, R. Facilitators/Compilers: Polidoro, B. 4 Taxonomic information ANIMALIA - CHORDATA - MAMMALIA - CETARTIODACTYLA - PONTOPORIIDAE - Pontoporia blainvillei (Gervais & d'Orbigny, 1844) Common Names: Franciscana (Spanish), Dauphin de La Plata (French), Delfín de La Plata (Spanish), La Plata River Dolphin (English), Tonina (Spanish; Castilian), Toninha (Portuguese). Note: This species was listed in the 1996-2002 IUCN Red Lists under the family Platanistidae. It is now most commonly assigned to the family Pontoporiidae, and at least sometimes in the superfamily Inioidea (Muizon et al. 2017). Geographic Range Franciscanas inhabit shallow coastal waters (and they sporadically enter the estuary of the La Plata River) of tropical and temperate regions of the western South Atlantic Ocean (Crespo 2002). They are found only along the east coast of South America (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina), from the northern Golfo San Matias, central Argentina (ca. 42°10'S), to Espirito Santo, southeastern Brazil (18°25'S) (Siciliano 1994; Crespo et al. 1998). The species is not distributed continuously throughout its range. Surveys (including beach surveys, museum specimens, and interviews with local people) indicate that franciscanas are extremely rare or absent in two areas, located in the northern parts of their distribution range; one between Macaé (southern Rio de Janeiro State) and Ubatuba (northern São Paulo State) and the other in Espírito Santo State (Azevedo et al. 2002; Siciliano et al. 2002; Secchi et al. 2003a). The reasons for these gaps are unclear, but because the species prefers shallow, turbid waters (Brownell 1989; Pinedo et al. 1989), water transparency and depth may be among the factors responsible (Siciliano et al. 2002). 5 Population In the Patagonia Sea, there is genetic evidence of at least 4 subpopulations: 1) southern Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul and Uruguayan waters, 2) Bahia Samborombon, 3) Cabo San Antonio and to the south, and 4) Monte Hermoso. There is also evidence that these subpopulations are present in distinct genetic, ecological and behavioral units that do not interact (Gariboldi et al. 2015, Costa-Urrutia et al. 2012, Negri et al. 2015, Mendez et al. 2008, 2010). There is a recommendation to review the existance of these subpopulations (Bordino pers comm. 2016). Althougth 4 subpopulations are described using genetic evidence, morphological and molecular data strongly support the existence of two main subpopulations of Franciscanas. Multivariate analysis of morphometric data revealed an smaller subpopulation form in the northern part of the species' range (north of 27°S) (those in the far north are of intermediate size) and a larger subpopulation in the coastal waters of southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina (south of 27°S) (Pinedo 1991). Analyses of a highly variable region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) also supported these two geographic forms (Secchi et al. 1998). Ott (2002) and Lázaro et al. (2004) compared the mtDNA of Franciscanas from Uruguay and Argentina with those published by Secchi et al. (1998). These studies found support for the existence of a large southern population (composed of animals from Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay and northern Argentina) that is clearly differentiated from animals in the waters off Rio de Janeiro. In addition, they revealed fixed genetic differences between the populations that suggest essentially no effective genetic exchange (see Secchi et al. 1998, Ott 2002, Lázaro et al. waters belong to a genetically distinct subpopulation. This is consistent with morphological data showing that size is not clinal, with animals from Paraná and São Paulo being smaller than those in adjacent populations to the south and north of those States (e.g.. Kasuya and Brownell 1979, Di Beneditto and Ramos 2001, Barreto and Rosas 2006, Barbato et al. 2007) A pairwise analysis of haplotype distances between different geographic locations showed increasing differentiation in the haplotype frequencies with increasing distance, following an isolation-by- distance pattern (Lázaro et al. 2004). Furthermore, recent analysis indicated that haplotype frequencies of samples from Claromecó (in Argentina) were significantly different from those of the rest of the southern population (Ott 2002, Lázaro et al. 2004). Secchi et al. (2003a) proposed four provisional management units (Franciscana Management Areas, or FMAs) with the following ranges: FMA I - coastal waters of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro states, Brazil (note: confirmation of the hiatus in the Espírito Santo State with increased survey effort will require further division of this FMA); FMA II - São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina states, Brazil; FMA III - coastal waters of Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil and Uruguay; and FMA IV - coastal waters of Argentina, including the provinces of Buenos Aires, Rio Negro and Chubut. There is no current abundance estimate for the species as a whole, but there is an estimate for the management stock inhabiting FMA III (hereafter referred as the RS/URU management unit). During aerial surveys of coastal waters of Rio Grande do Sul State in 1996 (Secchi et al. 2001), 53,542). This extrapolated result must be used very cautiously, however, because it is based on a density estimate for only a small fraction of the coastline, representing approximately 0.7% of the possible range of the subpopulation (ca. 64,045 sq. km), and there is limited information on the distribution pattern of Franciscanas within their total range. This and other estimates of Franciscana density and abundance need to be interpreted cautiously as they could be either positively or negatively biased. The IWC Scientific Committee concluded, after reviewing the methods and limitations of Franciscana surveys through 2003 2004, that it was not appropriate to consider them as providing minimum estimates of abundance (IWC 2005a). While the overall abundance of the species