Regional assessment of the conservation status of snubfin dolphins (Orcaella heinsohni) in the Kimberley Region, Western Australia

This research was financially supported by the following organizations: 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.Implementing conservation measures for data-limited species is a fundamental challenge for wildlife managers and policy-makers, and proves difficult for cryptic marine animals occurring in naturally low numbers across remote seascapes. There is currently scant information on the abundance and habitat preferences of Australian snubfin dolphins (Orcaella heinsohni) throughout much of their geographical range, and especially within the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. Such knowledge gaps curtail rigorous threat assessments on both local and regional scales. To address this and assist future conservation listings, we built the first comprehensive catalog of snubfin dolphin sightings for the Kimberley. We used these data to estimate the species’ extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) along the region’s 7,000 km coastline, following a simple Bootstrap bivariate kernel approach to combine datasets of varying quality and quantify uncertainty. Our catalog consists of 1,597 visual detections of snubfin dolphins made over a period of 17 years (2004–2020) and collated from multiple sources, including online biodiversity repositories, peer-reviewed scientific articles, citizen science programs, as well as dedicated marine wildlife surveys with local Indigenous communities and Ranger groups. Snubfin dolphins were consistently encountered in shallow waters (2 and 700 (656–736) km2 respectively, suggesting that snubfin dolphins in the Kimberley are likely Vulnerable under IUCN criteria B2 at a regional scale, in keeping with their global classification. Our study offers insights into the distribution of a vulnerable coastal cetacean species and demonstrates the value of integrating multiple data sources for informing conservation assessments in the face of uncertainty.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Crise post-électorale en Côte d’Ivoire et logique de la non-violence en milieu urbain: une illustration à partir des villes de Gagnoa, Guiglo et San Pedro en 2010–11

Les auteurs cherchent à comprendre pourquoi certaines villes clés dans un sens stratégique, symbolique et historique (les villes de Gagnoa, Guiglo et San Pedro) n’ont pas connu de cycle de violence pendant et après la crise post-électorale de 2010 à 2011 en Côte d’Ivoire. Le niveau de motivation de l’armée, des milices des Jeunes Patriotes, et de la population et la cohésion sociale autour des institutions étatiques et traditionnelles locales ainsi que les programmes de solidarité d’ONG locales et internationales permettent de comprendre l’absence de violence dans ces villes. Pour comprendre la logique de la non-violence durant la guerre civile ivoirienne, les auteurs avaient conduit plusieurs interviews semi-structurées à Abidjan, Gagnoa, Guiglo et San Pedro avec des autorités gouvernementales, des organisations internationales, les Jeunes Patriotes, des militaires, des chefs de communautés et des chefs religieux. Ces interviews sont complétées par des études secondaires. This article focuses on western Côte d’Ivoire, which has been the political and military epicentre of the Ivorian crisis since 2000. The authors seek to understand why a number of key cities in a strategic, symbolic and historical sense (the cities of Gagnoa, Guiglo and San Pedro) did not experience a cycle of violence following the post-electoral crisis in 2010 to 2011. Motivation and social cohesion appear as two factors explaining this dynamic of restraint. Methodologically, the article is based on semi-structured interviews with key political and security actors in the three towns and in Abidjan, and completed by secondary sources