Research: An Illegal Trade Is Killing Dolphins In Papua New Guinea

A fishery fueled by an illegal trade is putting two species of dolphin in danger of local extinction in Papua New Guinea, according to Jacinta Gigileia Jonathan, a fisheries biologist and marine mammal researcher based there.

Jonathan, a postgraduate research scholar, says her 2019 research project found that that dolphins are ending up as by-catch, that is, species that are caught and die in the course of commercial fishing for another species.

"My project found high levels of dolphin by-catch which had increased significantly resulting from a fish maw fishery targeting large perch-like fish for swim bladders to trade in the Chinese black market for Chinese medicine," she says.

This trade in dried swim bladder (maw) reaches across the world: for example, a 2019 report showed that maw sourced in Mexico can fetch a price of between $20,000 and $80,000 per kilogram on the black market.

Jonathan's project looked at the impact of this demand on Kikori, a small fishing community in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

"My project found that a Kikori fisher can obtain at least 1000 Papua New Guinean Kina (USD$300) for a good quality swim-bladder," she says, "This equates to more than a month's salary... resulting in a fishery that is difficult to manage."

The by-catch from this fishery then results in the death of dolphins.

"At the time of my project, there were no other organizations nationally or internationally that were addressing the inshore marine mammal by-catch issue in the Kikori Delta," Jonathan says, "The Snubfin Dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) and humpback dolphin (Sousa sahulensis) are under threat from local extinction, with by-catch rates of at least 3-4 dolphins per month."

From Fish Shop to Fisheries Scientist

Even before becoming a scientist, Jonathan got to know the coastal waters in her home country of Papua New Guinea, first-hand.

"I grew up between long dinghy trips to Fergusson Island, one of the D’Entrecasteaux Islands, and my hometown, Alotau, in Milne Bay Province," she says, adding that during her high school year she worked in her family's fish shop where they sold fresh and frozen fish to customers in Alotau town.

"I spent long hours cleaning, weighing, wrapping and pricing fish, so I was curious to know the names of different fish species that my father brought from Fergusson Island for sale in town," Jonathan says, adding that although her family knew she wanted to study nursing, it in the fish shop that she "decided to study fisheries."

Jonathan was accepted to the fisheries and marine resources degree program at the Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment (PNGUNRE) in Rabaul, East New Britain Province.

In her third, year, she was selected as one of the top eight pioneer students to independently participate in the honors research program.

"This was my introduction to research," she says, adding that she would go on to complete two more marine research projects, particularly the Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF) small grants program that immensely helped me complete my research project.

Jonathan says the Global South faces risks from climate change and other large-scale environmental degradation as well as population growth, extreme poverty and politically motivated violence.

"Scientists from the Global South are part of the demographic that respond to these global challenges and therefore, will contribute diverse, unique and rich perspectives in understanding a global challenge and gradually find a solution," she says.

Another scientist working in the Global South with marine mammals is biologist Lucy Keith-Diagne, founder and director of the African Aquatic Conservation Fund in Senegal.

Keith-Diagne has been using genetic studies to map out the distinct populations of the African Manatee, whose range is spread across 21 countries along Africa’s Atlantic coast.