Mundo Azul

Conservation Status:
The boto has benefited in many parts of the Amazon from legends that associate it with supernatural powers. It is believed that the spirits of drowned persons enter the bodies of botos, and that these animals change into handsome young men. Consequently there has been no direct hunting of this dolphin.

IUCN Status:

1994: Vulnerable
1996 - 2004: Vulnerable (Criteria: A1cd) (IUCN 2004)

Threats:
The boto is vulnerable to human-induced habitat changes and suffers some incidental mortality in fisheries, but it has not yet been depleted to anything like the extent of its
Asian counterparts, such as the baiji, the Ganges River dolphin, and the Indus River dolphin. Threats include bycatch in fisheries; hydroelectric development; deforestation; and pollution from agriculture, industry and mining.

Interactions with fisheries:
Although there is no regular hunt for botos, they are sometimes killed and maimed deliberately by fishermen to protect their catch and gear, or in retaliation for perceived competition for fish resources.
In the Orinoco, fishing of Silver Dollar or Palometa (Mylossoma sp.) has caused conflicts
between fisheries and dolphins. To capture this species, fishers first clear vegetation from plains alongside riparian forests, then when water levels rise, they throw maize into the water for a period of 5 to 20 days to attract large quantities of Palometas. The fish are subsequently caught using rods and hooks. Some 200 kg of Palometa can be taken using this method. The fish are generally sold in Venezuela.

Over the last five years, fishers have reported that during this process, groups of more than four dolphins appear in these areas, attacking the Palometas and causing economic losses. Faced with this situation, fishers have shot or harpooned the dolphins to prevent further loss of fish.

In the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, fishing has begun of the carrion-feeding Vulture Catfish
(Calophysus macropterus) known as Mapurito in the Orinoco region and Mota or Simí in the
Amazon. The fish is caught using dolphin meat as bait. Formerly, pig’s innards or viscera from other animals were used to capture the Vulture Catfish, but this practice has now been replaced by the use of threatened species such as dolphins or caimans.

Fishing of this species is mainly carried out in Brazil, where several estates are involved in the fishing, sale and distribution of Vulture Catfish. Actors in the commercial chain include bait hunters and fishers as well as storage facilities supplying shipping vessels which transport the fish to Leticia from where it is sent to Bogotá and other cities within Colombia.

In the Orinoco region, those catching Vulture Catfish (Pimelodus grosskopfii) are known as guareros and are responsible for obtaining the dolphins, caimans or pigs used as bait (either captured or bought). The ease and efficiency of catching Vulture Catfish due to a plentiful supply of bait (dolphins and caimans) has led to increased interest in the consumption of the species in recent years.

En Perú, Bolivia, Colombia y Brasil, una de las principales causas de mortalidad es la muerte de individuos atrapados entre redes de pescadores y si bien éstos son liberados, en muchos casos los mismos pescadores los dejan morir o los matan a machetazos para posteriormente utilizan los restos evitar el destrozo de sus redes, como carnada para atraer peces

En la Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria del Perú, donde la pesca comercial es un problema, ya que los delfines son envenenados a propósito con tóxicos, como Methil-paration

Habitat destruction:
There are 10 major dams at present in the Amazon basin, of which 8 have isolated boto populations upstream. Some of these dams have, therefore, fragmented the population, but these fragments are still probably quite large. Dam construction and operation cause major changes in the flow regime, sediment load, and water quality of rivers. Dams eliminate many of the dynamic attributes of downstream waters and block the flow-through of sediment essential to the formation of islands and sandbars. Downstream flows are normally not allowed to overspill riverbanks onto adjacent floodplains. As a result, fish production decreases dramatically. Natural fluctuations in flow, temperature, and detritus loading, which provide optimal conditions for a large number of aquatic organisms, are suppressed by dams, and the number of ecological niches available for supporting diverse communities of riverine biota is reduced.

The main alterations to ecosystems from this type of project are:

Changes to physical and chemical properties of the water, especially the reduction of oxygen and the increase of sulphuric acid which can cause fish mortality.
Pollution due to pesticides (organochlorine compounds) used in agriculture; heavy metals such as mercury used in gold extraction; and other elements used in the paper industry (nitrogen, phosphorus, chlorine, aluminium, barium, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, sodium and silicon).
Reduction in a large variety of fish species making up part of the dolphins’ diet.
Destruction and fragmentation of key habitats for many species.

Petroleum pollution

The petroleum industry threatens the Amazon and Orinoco basins. In Colombia, armed groups have blown up oil pipelines, causing serious damage. The Caño Limón oil pipeline (running from Arauca to Bolívar) has been subject to 473 attacks since it was built. The resulting 1.5m barrels of spilt petroleum have caused irreparable pollution to aquatic ecosystems. In total, these oil spills are among the six largest in history and the largest of any in continental waters. The principal problems associated with the petroleum industry are as follows:

Construction of new roads for petroleum exploration.
Oil spills
Deforestation
Increase in human settlements and expansion of agricultural frontiers

Read more about the natural history of the boto

If you want to take a whale or dolphin watching tour, visit the Web Site of the Peruvian tourism operator Nature Expeditions

There are many ways how you can support cetacean conservation in Peru: