Estimating abundance of an isolated population of the threatened franciscana: moving towards conservation actions

Principal Investigators: Danilewicz, Zerbini, Andriolo, Secchi, Flores

The proposed research will lead to the first estimates of abundance of franciscanas in Fma I and will provide a basis to evaluate the long-term viability of this isolated franciscana population. this study will also provide information on distribution and its relationship with environmental variables and will reveal critical habitat(s) of the franciscana inhabiting and FMA I. this information can be used by local governments and international organisations to establish and/or prioritize management strategies for the species (e.g. mitigation of bycatch and other human impacts).

In the interest of assessing the status of the franciscana in FMA I, it is proposed here that aerial surveys be conducted with the specific objectives given below.

(1)     estimating population size.

(2)     Documenting distribution, core habitats and geographic limits of hiatuses in distribution.

(3)     Investigating the relationship of distribution and environmental parameters (e.g. water turbidity, sea surface temperature and bathymetric parameters).