Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Low

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• Two inshore dolphin species are known to be at risk.
• The endemic Australian snubfin dolphin and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin are at risk, especially from interactions with large mesh nets and increasing human use of their inshore habitat.
  
• There is limited information for any other dolphin species in the Great Barrier Reef.
• Some pollutants such as heavy metals can persist for decades in the marine environment. They are known to accumulate in species that have a high fat content (such as whales and dolphins), species which are higher in the food web, and in species which are long lived. 

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Spatial distribution of Australian snubfin and humpback dolphins
  
• Population sizes, site fidelity and residence patterns of Australian snubfin and humpback dolphins in the Cleveland Bay area, Townsville
  
• Australian humpback dolphin genetics
  
• Australian snubfin dolphin genetics 
• Taxoplasmosis in Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems
• Population and urban growth in the GBR catchment
• Population centres in Queensland and Great Barrier Reef catchment 
• Population projections 
  
• Clearing of wetlands
• Global contamination by persistent organochlorines and their ecotoxicological impact on marine mammals 
• Heavy metal accumulation in marine mammals
• New polybrominated dimethoxybiphenyls (PBDMBs) in marine mammals 
• Scientific consensus statement on water quality in the Great Barrier Reef
  
• Synthesis of evidence to support the Scientific Consensus Statement on Water Quality in the Great Barrier Reef 
• Reef exposure to river contaminants ecosystem risk index 
• Catchment influence on the Great Barrier Reef 

Existing policies and management actions

• Operational Policy on Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park [450KB]
  
• Protected Species in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
  
• Queensland’s Nature Conservation (Whale and Dolphin) Conservation Plan 1997
  
• Action Plan for Australian Cetaceans
  
• State Coastal Management Plan 2002 
• GBRMPA involvement in coastal development planning and assessment
• Reef Guardian Councils
  
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
  
• Regional coastal management plans
• Improving water quality
• Coastal ecosystem protection
• Water Quality Guidelines for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Regional water quality improvement plans

Future management requirements

• Review of Operational Policy on Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Biodiversity strategy
• Draft Queensland Coastal Management Plan 

Defined research questions

• There are currently no defined research questions for this topic. Research questions will be developed, giving priority to interactions/issues that are of most concern to management.

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring