Barbara L. Taylor1; Grant Abel2*; David Bader3; Jay Barlow1; Gill Braulik4; Frank Cipriano5; Tim Collins6; Douglas DeMaster7; Lorenzo von Fersen8; Forrest M. Gomez9*; Yujiang Hao10; Philip S. Miller11; Gianna Minton12; Randall R. Reeves13; Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho14; Cynthia R. Smith9; Ding Wang10; Randall S. Wells15
Abstract
Integrated Conservation Planning for Cetaceans, a sub-group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission’s Cetacean Specialist Group (IUCN/SSC-CSG), was formed in response to the desperate situation of increasing numbers of endangered riverine and coastal dolphin and porpoise species and populations in the world today. The likely extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin ‘baiji’ (Lipotes vexillifer) and the catastrophic decline to the edge of extinction of the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), now considered the most endangered cetacean in the world, are both examples of the non-availability of all the necessary tools for dealing with conservation emergencies.1,2
The One-Plan Approach to integrated conservation planning is meant to involve all stakeholders and is actively promoted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.3 The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020, at its session in Marseille, France, alarmed that as of February 2020, 73 species were considered Extinct in the Wild and 6,413 had been classified as Critically Endangered on the 2019 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 1) “urged the [IUCN] Secretariat and professional societies to promote integration of in situ and ex situ conservation interventions by applying the One Plan approach, to ensure effective use of all available conservation tools”; 2) “called on all [IUCN] members to ensure that 11th hour, last-ditch ex situ conservation efforts are prevented by proactive and timely application of planning methods, such as the One Plan Approach, and informed by the Guidelines on the Use of Ex Situ Management for Species Conservation”; and 3) “recommended closer collaboration between SSC and conservation advisory groups of zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and biobanks through integrated membership, aligned goals and shared planning processes”.4
The International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine (IAAAM) has a global reach for veterinary medicine, conservation, and science with regard to small cetaceans and other threatened species. Organizations caring for small cetaceans the world over have an opportunity to support in situ conservation initiatives to fill knowledge gaps, monitor population trends, intervene when deemed necessary, and address some of the threats that will lead to more species extinctions and population extirpations.
Literature Cited
1. Turvey ST, Pitman RL, Taylor BL, Barlow J, Akamatsu T, Barrett LA, Zhao X, Reeves RR, Stewart BS, Wang K, Wei Z, Zhang X, Pusser LT, Richlen M, Brandon JR, Wang D. 2007. First human-caused extinction of a cetacean species? Biology Letters 3: 537–540.
2. Jaramillo-Legorreta AM, Cardenas-Hinojosa G, Nieto-Garcia E, Rojas-Bracho L, Thomas L, Ver Hoef JM, Moore J, Taylor B, Barlow J, Tregenza N. 2019. Decline towards extinction of Mexico’s vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus). Royal Society Open Science 6:190598.
3. [IUCN/SSC] International Organization for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission. 2014. Guidelines on the Use of Ex Situ Management for Species Conservation. Version 2.0. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN Species Survival Commission. https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2014-064.pdf.
4. [IUCN/SSC] International Organization for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission. 2020. IUCN/WCC-2020_Res-079-EN Linking in situ and ex situ efforts to save threatened species. https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/resrecfiles/WCC_2020_RES_079_EN.pdf.