Human Interaction
The pantropical spotted dolphin's propensity for associating with ], particularly in the eastern Pacific has in recent history been a very real danger. In the 1960s and 1970s fishermen would capture thousands of dolphin and tuna at once using purse seine nets. The dolphins all died. Over a period of about 25 years 75% of this region's population, and over half the world's total was wiped out. The issue has received wide public attention. Many major supermarkets have found it economically expedient to use tuna suppliers whose fisherman catch tuna by more discriminatory means, and thus advertise their tuna product as dolphin-friendly. Some such products are approved by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Trust.
According to a study reported in the October, 2008 issue of Marine Ecology Progress Series, negative impacts from fishing activities remain, despite broad “dolphin safe” practices. Instead of reducing numbers through direct mortalities, the study shows that fishing activities have disrupted the reproductive output of the north-eastern pantropical spotted dolphin. The results showed that fishing had a negative impact on calf survival rates and/or birth rates. This could be caused when fishing operations separate mothers from their suckling calves, interfere with the conception or gestation of calves or a combination of the two.
Read more about this topic: Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
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