Kolipakam Vishnupriya, Singh Shweta, Ray Shovana, Prasad Leela, Roy Kanad, Wakid Abdul, Qureshi Qamar
Wildlife Institute of India, PO Box:18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001, Uttarakhand, India.
Heliyon. 2020 Aug 15;6(8):e04690. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04690. eCollection 2020 Aug.
Populations of the Ganges river dolphin () are endangered, with ~3500 individuals estimated worldwide. Threats to this precarious population is exacerbated by accidental entanglement and illegal hunting for oil, which is used in bait fisheries and traditional medicine. Alternatives to dolphin oil have been proposed and extensively promoted in India, to curb the immediate threat to dolphin populations. However, it is not known whether dolphins are still being poached for oil, despite the proposal of aforementioned alternatives. Herein, a molecular protocol to monitor the presence of Dolphin DNA, using species identification of DNA extracted from bait oils obtained from fishermen is presented. This is coupled with information from social surveys to understand the current status of use of dolphin oil. Results indicate that molecular tools provide an accurate technique for detecting the presence of dolphin DNA, and can be used by enforcement agencies to monitor and identify points of threat to dolphins. Social survey results indicate the preference of fishermen to continue the use of dolphin oil for bait, despite knowing the legal implications. It is found that alternate oils do not provide an effective solution to curb dolphin oil use, and only shifts the threats of endangerment from one species to another, in the long run. The ban of bait fishing, effective enforcement combined with monitoring through molecular tools, continued community engagement and livelihood skill development are the most viable solutions for a holistic conservation approach.
恒河江豚种群濒危，全球估计约有3500头。意外缠结以及为获取用于诱饵渔业和传统医学的油脂而进行的非法捕猎，加剧了对这一濒危种群的威胁。印度已提出并大力推广海豚油的替代物，以遏制对海豚种群的直接威胁。然而，尽管提出了上述替代物，尚不清楚海豚是否仍因油脂而遭到偷猎。在此，本文介绍了一种分子检测方法，通过对从渔民处获得的诱饵油中提取的DNA进行物种鉴定，来监测海豚DNA的存在情况。同时结合社会调查信息，以了解海豚油的当前使用状况。结果表明，分子工具为检测海豚DNA的存在提供了一种准确的技术，执法机构可利用该技术监测并确定对海豚的威胁点。社会调查结果表明，尽管渔民知道法律后果，但他们仍倾向于继续使用海豚油作诱饵。研究发现，替代油脂并不能有效解决遏制海豚油使用的问题，从长远来看，只会将濒危威胁从一个物种转移到另一个物种。禁止诱饵捕鱼、通过分子工具进行有效执法与监测、持续的社区参与以及生计技能发展，是整体保护方法最可行的解决方案。
