Regional assessment of the conservation status of snubfin dolphins (Orcaella heinsohni) in the Kimberley region, Western Australia
This repository contains code and data accompanying the article:
Bouchet PJ, Thiele D, Marley SA, Waples K, Weisenberger F, Balanggarra Rangers, Bardi Jawi Rangers, Dambimangari Rangers, Nyamba Buru Yawuru Rangers, Nyul Nyul Rangers, Uunguu Rangers, Raudino H. Regional assessment of the conservation status of snubfin dolphins (Orcaella heinsohni) in the Kimberley region, Western Australia. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7: 614852.
This research was financially supported by the following organisations: The Australian Marine Mammal Centre, Mia J Tegner Award, The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society UK (WDCS), W.V. Scott Estate, Commonwealth Department of Environment (Caring for Our Country), WWF Australia, the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and Ghostnets Australia.
In addition to co-authors, we are thankful to Mayala and Bindunbur Traditional Owners, who have generously shared their knowledge on dolphins in their Sea Countries. We acknowledge the significant contribution to this research provided by the Yawuru community, who have allowed us to conduct snubfin dolphin and marine wildlife research on Yawuru Sea Country since 2004 (> 10 years). In particular, we would like to thank the following individuals: Julie Melbourne, Dean Mathews, Nathan Kay, Cornell Tolentino, Philip Pedro, Johani Mamid, Eduardo Maher, Pius Gregory, Ronald Wade and Wayne Edgar, as well as the Dambimangari community including James Mansfield, Janet Oobagooma, Crystal Oobagooma, Kieran Bangmorra, Warren Barunga, Gary Umbagai, Frank Martin, Pete O'Connor, and Vicki Numaduma.
The following Rangers took part in field research activities: [Balanggarra] Michael Morlumbun; [Bardi Jawi] Chris Sampi; [Nyul Nyul] Kenneth Callaghan; [Uunguu] Jason Adams, Dorothy Djanghara, Raphael Karadada, Sylvester Mangolamara, Neil Waina, Robert Warren, and Desmond Williams.
We thank the skippers and crews of the vessels used during field surveys, namely: Garry McKechnie, Damien Cook (SV Pelican), Pam Canny & Ian Lew (RV Rachel), Tony Richards (The Orcaella), Trippy & Geoff (MV Kimberley Escape). The Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS), the Australian Customs Service (ACS), and the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) coordinated and participated in surveys. DT would like to acknowledge assistance from the Broome Bird Observatory, Environs Kimberley, the Roebuck Bay Working Group, and the following dedicated individuals: Tanya Vernes and Jessica Chapman (formerly WWF-Australia), Debra Glasgow, Marguerite Tarzia, Marty Gent, Carol Palmer, Alexander Brown, Pete Gill, Lisa Ballance, Bob Pitman, Kate Stafford, Alexander Watson, Jason Fowler, Martin Pritchard, Brendan G. Mackey, Leslie Thiele, Chandra Salgado-Kent, Matthew Grey, Kandy Curran, and Kate Golson. DBCA staff Danny Barrow, Adrian Lane, Darren Stevens, Michael Hourn, Brett Francis, Cameron Smith, Luke Puertollano, Jason Fong, Anthony Richardson, Corrine Douglas, Ellen D'Cruz, Sarah Mullineux, Jesse Murdoch, and Chris Nutt have all been integral to snubfin records in Yawuru Nagulagun/ Roebuck Bay and Lalang-garram/Camden Sound Marine Parks. We thank Peter Bayliss and Marlee Hutton for providing the aerial survey data. Lastly, we thank Simon Allen and Rebecca McIntosh for providing thoughtful and constructive comments on an earlier draft.
A video showcasing the collaborative snubfin dolphin surveys undertaken by the Nyamba Buru Yawuru Land and Sea Unit, the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and the World Wildlife Fund Australia on Yawuru Sea Country can be viewed at https://bit.ly/snubfin-dolphins-Yawuru.
All sightings compiled in this study have either been previously published or are in the public domain, with the exception of observations collected by Ranger groups (dataset OH-005, Table 1). Those data are currently supporting ongoing projects and cannot be made readily available at the time of publication. Any requests for information should be directed to the relevant data custodians, namely: Balanggarra Rangers ([email protected]), Bardi Jawi Rangers ([email protected]), Dambimangari Rangers ([email protected]), Nyamba Buru Yawuru Rangers ([email protected]), Nyul Nyul Rangers ([email protected]), and Uunguu Rangers ([email protected]).
Datasets OH-001, OH-002, OH-004, OH-008, OH-009, OH-011, OH-015, OH-016, OH-017, and OH-019 are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/kgdu9/). Datasets OH-003, OH-006, OH-007, OH-010 are published in Jenner et al. (2014), Brown et al. (2016), Brown et al. (2017), and Allen et al. (2012), respectively. OH-012 and OH-014 are hosted on NatureMap (https://naturemap.dbca.wa.gov.au/, free registration required). Datasets OH-013 and OH-018 are available from https://data.csiro.au/collections/ and https://ala.org.au/ respectively.