Future bleak for dolphins and porpoises

This article was in the New Scientist.... what amazed me was 66% in risk from being used as food or bait!

more of this article is available in the magazine

"Future bleak for dolphins and porpoises

* 03 December 2005
*
* New Scientist Magazine issue 2528

A comprehensive assessment of small cetaceans reveals they face a barrage of threats and are in desperate need of better protection

THE future for dolphins and porpoises is a lot gloomier than their smiling faces suggest. According to the most comprehensive scientific assessment of small cetaceans yet, they face a barrage of threats, and many species are in desperate need of better protection.

The joint report by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is based on published data on 71 species. Around 50 cetacean researchers from around the world commented on and updated the archive. The result makes dismal reading. Over 70 per cent of small cetaceans are at risk of being tangled in fishing nets. Some 66 per cent of the surveyed animals are at risk of being culled for food or for use as bait. Around 56 per cent are threatened by pollution such as heavy metals and pesticides, and 24 per cent from dams and other forms of environmental degradation. "