So the Guiana dolphin here in Brazil, is in fact one of the most common species in estuaries and bays,

but at the same time,

it is one of the most endangered species.

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It’s a dolphin, that is very aloof and shy,

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One of the other characteristics

of this species

is that they have a local loyalty.

They are born here, they grow up here, they die here in the same area where they were born.

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Here in Rio de Janeiro, there is a population in Guanabara Bay,

another in Sepetiba and another population

here in the Ilha Grande bay.

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Each region

with a different specific threat.

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This population of dolphins in the 1980’s in Guanabara Bay,

was more or less estimated at around 400 dolphins.

And in recent years, what have we seen?

A drastic reduction,

so that today there’s no more than 30 dolphins in the bay.

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A large part of this bay today is made up of anchorage areas

that have the presence of ships working 24 hrs a day.

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They’re super sensitive to sound reception and emission. So they communicate

to get organised and eat. They communicate

to look after the babies, they communicate

to move from one point to another.

And when you have a very noisy environment, you make communication difficult and you stress out these animals.

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What we see is that the animals continue to reproduce, we always see new individuals in the population, that is, calves being born. However, the success of the survival of these baby dolphins has been very low.

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With major developments, lots of boat traffic, domestic and industrial sewage, all of this is a component of significant chemical pollution that influences the environmental health

of Guanabara Bay.

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The dolphins are considered environmental sentinels; they are at the top of the food chain. Everything 

associated with contamination that enters this environment inevitably passes through this chain and ends up in the dolphin. That’s why the issue of chemical pollution is so important in terms of preserving these animals.

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The largest population of grey dolphins in the world is in Sepetiba Bay.

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Our Guiana dolphins, which live in semi-enclosed bays, are some of the most contaminated

in the world.

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We’re seeing various threats to this population. One of them is chemical compounds that we use in our daily lives, for example, sunscreen. Everyone uses it or has used it.

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We’re finding it in the tissues of the dolphin, in the fat, in the liver, in the placenta, in the milk, even in the baby we found sunscreen.

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In the bay of Ilha Grande, we have threats related to the exploration of oil and industry.

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Here the source of pollution is not so great,

but it receives pollution

coming from Sepetiba.

In other words, the bays are connected.

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So here you have the three bays; We have one with much more pollution, which is Guanabara. Sepetiba is still in the development phase of this ever-increasing pollution, and Ilha Grande, which has a small amount of pollutants, but it suffers from this problem.

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When we’re in the field, we do the photo identification and then come and do the analyses here on the computer.

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So we do all that

by comparing and making a catalogue of each individual

and monitor that specific life over the years, to understand its role in the community.

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This was an interesting case, because we realised that one of the animals had a very recent bite on the pectoral fin, and what we realised is that this mark, probably was another dolphin trying to pull him out of the net.

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So today we have alternative sources of income so that these children of fishermen, those who don’t want to continue to fish can do some other marine activity, [such as] taking tourists to watch the dolphins and be able to bring in an income.

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Working with tourists,

was very important in my life, so I was able to buy my things. In the past I couldn’t afford to buy a boat. It’s very important, Eco-tourism.

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I believe that if there hadn’t been the study of Guiana dolphins, there would still be illegal fishing here. So we’ve stopped a lot.

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By preserving the

dolphins, we are, consequently,

preserving the entire environment.

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If we don’t leave a clean environment for these great ambassadors of ocean health, we’re not leaving a healthy planet for our future generations either.