The 2020 biennial Commission meeting of the IWC will be held at the Grand Bernardin Resort, Portoroz, Slovenia
Striped dolphins are recognizable by their striking markings, making them one of the most beautiful small cetaceans. They are found in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and most adjacent seas, in waters roughly between latitudes of 50° North and 40° South. They are one of the most commonly encountered dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea. They are not always approachable, but when they can be observed, they are appreciated for their impressive acrobatic behavior.
Striped dolphins are found in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans and many of the adjacent seas, including the Mediterranean. They range further into temperate waters than spinner, spotted, or clymene dolphins, and are generally found between latitudes of 50° North and 40° South, although there are some unusual extra-limital records from areas further north. Like spinner and spotted dolphins, they are mostly observed in open oceans, except where deep water can be found close to shore. They are also associated with areas of upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water1,2.
Striped dolphins are native to the following countries and territories: Algeria; American Samoa; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Australia; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bermuda; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Saba, Sint Eustatius); Brazil; British Indian Ocean Territory; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Cameroon; Canada; Cape Verde; Cayman Islands; China; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Colombia; Comoros; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Cook Islands; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Curaçao; Cyprus; Denmark; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Ethiopia; Fiji; France; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Gibraltar; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guam; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Kenya; Kiribati; Kuwait; Liberia; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Martinique; Mauritania; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Monaco; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Netherlands; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Niue; Northern Mariana Islands; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Pitcairn; Portugal; Qatar; Russian Federation; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Sao Tomé and Principe; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Wallis and Futuna; Western Sahara; Yemen
Striped dolphins in different regions have developed different diets: Off the coasts of Japan, South Africa and in the in the northeast Atlantic, they feed predominantly on on lantern fish, a species that follows the diel migration to deep waters during the day and rises towards th surface at night. In order to reach this deep prey, striped dolphins are able to dive to depths of between 200 and 700m. In coastal areas of the northeast Atlantic, striped dolphins feed on cod and anchovy, while in the Mediterranean they appear to prefer squid2,3.
Striped dolphins can form groups ranging from fewer than 30 animals to 500, and are sometimes seen in association with other species in mixed species groups of over 1000 animals. In some ocean basins they form schools that are segregated by age class, with separate schools for juveniles, adults and mixed schools4. The adult and mixed schools are further split into those that are breeding or not, with one male likely breeding with multiple females. A female is pregnant for 12-13 months, and there appear to be two times of year when births are most common – one in summer and one in winter2.
Killer whales and sharks are known to prey on striped dolphins. The species has also experienced mass die offs due to morbillivirus breakout in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea3,5-7.
Like almost all small cetaceans the world over, striped dolphins are seriously impacted by entanglement in different types of fishing gear throughout their range, and fisheries bycatch has been high and potentially unsustainable in the northeast Atlantic8 and the Mediterranean, among other places3.
Striped dolphins have also been the victims of several mass die-offs caused by a virus called morbillivirus3,7,9. Researchers believe that high levels of contaminants and other environmental factors somehow render this species more susceptible to viral infections3,10-12.
There have been some directed hunts for striped dolphins in different locations, including Japan, where thousands of individuals were taken through the 1980’s. But current takes are now limited to fewer than 100 individuals per year13. The species has also been directly hunted either as food or because they were perceived as competition in fisheries in the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, and the Mediterranean5,13. Despite the ongoing threats and repeated mass die-offs, striped dolphins are numerous throughout their range and are designated globally as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species13. The Mediterranean population, on the other hand, suffered severe depletion from a morbillivirus die-off in 1990-199214, and does not appear to be recovering, possibly due to ongoing threats of contaminants15 and fisheries bycatch3,16. As such, the species is considered Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species5 The species is listed under Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
Please see the IWC Whalewatching Handbook